Attitudes towards Future Unemployment and European Cooperation to Reduce Unemployment among 8th Graders in EU/European Countries.

Aleš Trunk,Plamen Vladkov Mirazchiyski,Eva Klemenčič Mirazchiyski

doi:10.3390/ejihpe12020017

Abstract

The focus of this article is on the attitudes among 8th graders in European countries on future unemployment and attitudes towards cooperation among European countries to guarantee high levels of employment and strengthen their economies. This article uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches. For the qualitative approach, a systematic literature review was performed using four databases, starting from 16,873 search results for the 2016–2021 period before systematically limiting them to identify possible predictors used in quantitative analyses. The quantitative part uses secondary analyses of data obtained from 52,788 upper secondary students from 14 EU and one EU associated country from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016, which is the last available cycle with publicly available data since 2018. The techniques used to analyse the data are descriptive statistics, linear and binary logistic regression, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients, and Principal Component Analysis. This article also considers the theoretical base of the sustainable development definition—it explores youths’ present perceptions of the future in the economic and financial domains.

Highlights

In the intensive discussions and use of the concept of “sustainable development” since the end 1980s, sustainable development was defined as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1](p. 15)
An important part of this study is to identify the relevant predictors of the outcome variables (“The economy will be weaker in all European countries”, “There will be a rise in poverty and unemployment in Europe”, “European cooperation to guarantee high levels of employment”, “European countries should cooperate to strengthen their economies”)
Table 1), as 0 (“Disagree” and “Strongly disagree”) and 1 (“Agree” and “Strongly agree”), and used as dependent variables in binary logistic regression. The purpose of these analyses is to identify the best predictors which can predict whether students agree with these statements (“European countries should cooperate to guarantee high levels of employment, and strengthen their economies”)

Summary

Introduction

In the intensive discussions and use of the concept of “sustainable development” since the end 1980s, sustainable development was defined as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1](p. 15). In the intensive discussions and use of the concept of “sustainable development” since the end 1980s, sustainable development was defined as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1]. Three core strands of sustainably developed systems have been recognised [2]: . Economic: has to be able to continuously produce goods and services, maintain viable levels of government and external credit and, avoid extreme sector-related imbalances which damage production in agriculture and industry; Social: characterised by fairness in opportunities and distribution, providing social services adequately, which includes education, health, education, gender equity, as well as political participation and accountability; Environmental: maintains stable resources, without overexploitation or exhaustion of renewable resources, or spending non-renewable resources where adequate substitutes are available This involves the maintenance of naturally occurring processes which are not classified as economic resources, like atmospheric stability and biodiversity.

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Discussion

Conclusion