Non-Cognitive Skills of NEET Youth in Russia

Abstract

The study of non-cognitive skills of NEET youth — e.g., those who are out of employment, education or training — presents an important development in the research framework of the factors of being NEET. The very presence and level of various non-cognitive skills since childhood affect the process of accumulation of human capital, future productivity, wage level, occupational choice, duration and quality of job search. The empirical basis of the study was provided by the data of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey Higher School of Economics (RLMSHSE) for 2016-2017. The choice of this period is determined by the special module of questions about non-cognitive skills according to the Big Five classification, included in RLMS-HSE questionnaire in 2016. They provided the empirical assessment of five personality traits of respondents, which are most often analysed in modern research literature on non-cognitive skills. Different types of NEET youth, students and employed young people were compared with respect to their level of these non-cognitive skills. Measures of non-cognitive skills have also been used as explanatory variables in multinomial logit models of ‘choice’ of particular labour market status type among young people, as well as in dynamic multinomial logit models, describing their transition from education to one of the NEET types. Research results revealed differences in non-cognitive characteristics between groups of young people occupying different positions in the field of education and employment. The obtained results indicate that non-cognitive framework of analysis of success of young people in education and work confirms its relevance on Russian data.