This contribution analyses the worrying phenomenon of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) and, more generally, the problem of the great difficulty young people experience in gaining access to the labour market, on the basis of the data of Istat’s Survey of the Labour Force and its ad hoc 2009 investigation «Young people entering the labour market», devised in collaboration with the Eu. The analysis suggested brings out how significant territorial differences in young people’s participation in the labour market are already visible when leaving the educational system, and how the significant economic and social vulnerability of young people, particularly in the South, makes necessary the creation of suitable job opportuntities, if we are to avoid losing whole generations of young people, who risk permanently exclusion from the labour market despite their increased qualifications. only subscribers can see the full article