He added that job seekers with some work experience are now preferred in the European job market, where the jobless rate is at about 12 percent.

He was a lawyer before getting his master's degree. "But I don't think that my experience has helped," he said.

In his home country, the situation is alarming as the austerity policy has brought in bleaker job prospects and families' incomes, social benefits and pensions have been greatly reduced.

"The young people are hopeless, and they are thinking about leaving the country," he said.

European figures indicate that the youth unemployment rate reached 23.5 percent in the EU's27 countries in April. In addition, the disparities between member states and between regions within member states are significant: the youth unemployment rate is more than 50 percent in some member states and over 70 percent in some regions, while in a few regions it is below 5percent.

All in all, more than 7.5 million people under 25 are neither in employment, education or training.

Jorge, from Spain - who declined to provide his surname - is another recent graduate in Brussels, but he's luckier than most. Out of 38 classmates, he was the first one to get a job offer. He is now dealing with competition law at an international organization.

"I'm lucky, one of my classmates has sent more than 200 job applications but only got two or three replies," he said. "This is worrying."

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