Labour market transitions of young workers in Nordic and southern European countries: the role of flexicurity

Abstract

The economic crisis has revived interest in the increasingly vulnerable position of young people in the labour market. In this article we look at the labour market transitions of young workers in Nordic and southern European employment regimes, assessing differences in the degrees and forms of uncertainty they face in their transitions as well as the changes observed in the context of the economic crisis. It is argued that labour market policies coming under the ‘flexicurity’ title have had only a limited impact on mitigating the increasing dualization of EU labour markets. This applies particularly to young workers in southern Europe who are more exposed to the flexibility dimension and less protected by its compensating security measures. The analysis also shows how the crisis is widening the gap between the two groups of countries in the degree and forms of uncertainty facing young workers in their labour market transitions.