Abstract
The aim of this article is to describe and explain the relationship between institutional mechanisms and unemployment distribution across age groups. In the first part, a life‐course theory of transitions embedded in linkage structures is developed. In the second part, different linkage structures of the transition from education to work and work to retirement are described. In the third part, international data on the unemployment distribution by age group in the USA, Germany, Sweden, Spain, and Japan are presented. They show divergent patterns of age concentration in unemployment rates. In the concluding part, ideal‐types of four institutional paths for the transition between non‐employment and employment are discussed.
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