The article argues that chronic unemployment has become the main context of youth policies in Spain and Brazil. Our point is that the current structural crisis of the capitalist system eventually provokes chronic unemployment. To be precise, both business and international organisations have endorsed structural adjustments and austerity policies that have destroyed productive forces through expropriation and exploitation in many countries, thus expanding chronic unemployment despite youth policies claiming otherwise. In Spain, two public policies try to circumvent the adverse situation of many youth, namely: the Quality of Education Act (LOMCE) and the Youth Guarantee Scheme. Brazil follows the same logic of these policies through initiatives such as the High School reform and Projovem program. However, in both countries the structural crisis threatens the future of young generations despite these fashionable policies exclusively targeted to them.