De arbeidsmarktintegratie van jongeren in Europa verklaard

Abstract

Youth labour market integration in Europe explained Youth labour market integration in Europe explained Young people in Europe face great difficulties nowadays when first entering the labour market. Unemployment and temporary employment are high among youth, although considerable differences in these figures exist between European countries. In this article, we study to what extent cyclical, structural and institutional factors explain cross-national variation in youth labour market integration. In addition, we examine to what degree educational differences exist in the impact of these macro characteristics. To answer these research questions, we use data on young people from 29 European countries who were interviewed in the European Social Survey of 2002, 2004, 2006 or 2008 and left day-time education in the period 1992-2008. The results of the empirical analysis first of all show that high unemployment prevent young people from a smooth integration in the labour market. In addition, economic globalization has a positive effect on youth labour market integration. We also demonstrated that young people experience less difficulties with labour market integration as the educational system is more vocational specific. Higher educated in particular profit from the positive effect of the vocational specificity of the educational system. Finally, as the employment protection legislation of incumbent workers is stricter, young people experience more difficulties with labour market integration, especially higher educated youth.