Abstract
In recent years, the share of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) has shown a remarkable increase in many European countries, such as Italy. The wide diffusion of NEETs represents an alarming social issue, as being NEET predisposes young people to long-term unemployment and social exclusion. It also has a significant negative impact on the economic growth and welfare equilibrium of countries. The aim of this paper is to analyze the determinants of the NEET condition in Italy through a step by step procedure beginning with the identification of their main characteristics and then proceeding with a focus on specific homogeneous clusters of NEETs. The decomposition of the gaps in the probabilities of being NEET between the various clusters allows verifying how personal characteristics effectively act. Furthermore, the influence of unobserved factors in the professional condition of young people has been analysed in more detail through a bivariate selection probit model on the propensity to look for a job against the condition of being inactive. The results confirm the crucial role of the education system, as well as the importance of the economic and social disparities between gender and the Italian territorial districts.
Highlights
In the last years, the share of young people identified with the acronym of NEET—not in education, in employment or training—increased in many European countries
This paper aims at investigating the determinants of the NEET status in Italy before and after the economic crisis, attempting to sketch the different profiles of young people sharing in this condition
Young people not engaged in work, education or training constitute an obstacle to economic growth, hampering productivity and competitiveness for the whole country, especially when this condition persists for a prolonged period
Summary
The share of young people identified with the acronym of NEET—not in education, in employment or training—increased in many European countries. This increase was high in Italy, which was more severely hit by the global financial and economic crisis than other European countries. Looking at the 2005–2015 decade, at the EU-28 Member States level, the share of NEETs increased from 16.1% up to 17.2% in 2013 but returned to 16.1% in 2015. During the same period in Italy, the share of NEETs increased six percentage points, from 21.0 to 26.8%, the highest in Europe, surpassed by Greece by only 0.2%. A long-term NEET status produces many serious consequences on the economy of a country. In addition to the loss in terms of foregone earnings and potential economic output and productivity
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