Levels Of Youth Unemployment Research Articles

Tackling the crisis facing young people: building ‘high opportunity progression eco-systems’

There is international concern about high levels of youth unemployment and an urgent cross-national debate about how to facilitate young people’s transition from education to working life. In England young people are facing a crisis of opportunity in terms of employment that is currently affecting 18–25 year olds, but has the potential to undermine 14–19 year olds’ participation, progression and transition into further/higher study or the workplace. This is at a time when the government intends to raise the age of participation to 18 by 2015. We identify a range of factors that affect both the decisions and actions of young people and those working with them and propose a multi-level ecological model to aid understanding and positive intervention. At the heart of this model lies the ‘local learning ecology’ (LLE), which we argue can take on a different form depending on the mediating actions of education professionals and other social actors at the local level. We describe the features of two ideal types of 14+ LLE—‘low opportunity progression equilibria’ and ‘high opportunity progression eco-systems’—with the latter more likely to benefit all young people in a locality. We conclude by suggesting that the ecological model has the potential to be adapted for other public, private or third sector areas of activity.

State failure in dealing with the NEET problem in South Africa: which way forward?

The concept ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) has only recently been deployed in academic analyses and policy documents in South Africa. This article uses the concept to highlight the acute levels of youth unemployment experienced in that country. It discusses the causal factors, and adopts the concept of ‘social capital’ as a powerful explanatory device, particularly in explaining why the young unemployed fail to access the first job. The discussion then proceeds to critique South African state efforts in resolving the NEET problem. The strategies of the state have failed in most cases, or where successful, have not expanded sufficiently to the requisite scale. In the conclusion, the discussion notes the relative success of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – operating at the micro level – in facilitating access to the first job. This suggests the need for more micro-level, qualitative research into the conditions that define local labour markets, and the role played by key organisational intermediaries such as NGOs which succeed where the state has failed – in successfully placing the young unemployed in work.

Technical Vocational Education: As a Veritable Tool for Eradicating Youth Unemployment.

The level ofyouth unemployment in Nigeriaisvery high in Nigeria; with itsattendantadverse psychological, social, occupational and financial effects. This paper stresses on thecauses and consequences of youth unemployment in Nigeria. The paper also highlights on Technical Vocational Education (TVE) in Nigeria. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations made on how TVE will reduce the level of youth unemployment in Nigeria amongst which are: Graduates of the programs should be encouraged to be selfemployed by assisting them with soft loans and/or micro credit. The quality of technical and vocational educational output must be improved if the expected outcome of employment creation and poverty reduction is to be achieved. The task of TVE provision cannot be tackled by government alone. The involvement of major Nigerian stakeholders, complemented by partnerships with international agencies, NGOs, Foundations, (etc.) will be essential if the goals and potentials of Nigerians are to be realized using TVE for job creation and poverty alleviation.

MEASURES FACILITATING REDUCTION OF ACADEMIC YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND TRANSFER FROM EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS TO LABOUR MARKET (LITHUANIAN CASE)

The issue of youth unemployment is one of the most often addressed topics in the political and scientific contexts. The situation in the labour market during recent years shows the increase in youth unemployment above the general level; however, it varies in different regions of the world. National and the EU levels of youth unemployment recently became unacceptably high, and the increase in the long-term youth unemployment causes major concern. In Lithuania, the issue of the integration of youth into the labour market has been analysed since the restoration of independence, while the deterioration of the labour market condition and the unemployment rate increases from year to year. However, youth unemployment remains a pressing concern, and its rate especially grew during the time of economic recession: in 2011 every tenth individual aged 15 to 24 was unemployed. On the basis of the analysis of the issue of Lithuanian academic youth unemployment, it was established that a certain part of young people fail to get a foothold in the labour market as a result of low qualifications and limited work experience. The article analyses the dynamics of youth unemployment and aims at finding active labour market measures that may facilitate the transfer of academic youth from educational institutions to the labour market, thus reducing their unemployment rate. Research objective: to distinguish the measures facilitating reduction of academic youth unemployment and transfer from educational institutions to the labour market.

Achieving "decent work" in South Africa?

The fundamental goal of the International Labor Organization is the achievement of decent and productive work for both women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. The South African government has pledged its commitment to the attainment of decent work and sustainable livelihoods for all workers and has undertaken to mainstream decent work imperatives into national development strategies. The four strategic objectives of decent work as identified by the ILO are: the promotion of standards and rights at work, to ensure that worker's constitutionally protected rights to dignity, equality and fair labor practices, amongst others, are safeguarded by appropriate legal frameworks; the promotion of employment creation and income opportunities, with the goal being not just the creation of jobs but the creation of jobs of acceptable quality; the provision and improvement of social protection and social security, which are regarded as fundamental to the alleviation of poverty, inequality and the burden of care responsibilities; and the promotion of social dialogue and tripartism. This article considers the progress made towards the attainment of these decent work objectives in South Africa, using five statistical indicators to measure such progress namely: employment opportunities; adequate earnings and productive work; stability and security of work; (iv) social protection; and social dialogue and workplace relations. It concludes that high levels of unemployment and a weakened economy in South Africa have given rise to a growing informal sector and an increase in unacceptable working conditions and exploitation. The rights of workers in the formal sector have not filtered down to those in the informal sector, who remains vulnerable and unrepresented. Job creation initiatives have been undermined by the global recession and infrastructural shortcomings and ambitious governmental targets appear to be unachievable, with youth unemployment levels and gender inequalities remaining of grave concern. Social protection programmes fail to provide adequate coverage to the majority of the economically active population. Social dialogue processes and organizational structures fail to accommodate or represent the interests of the informal sector. Until these problems are overcome, the article concludes, it remains unlikely that decent work imperatives will be attained.

PROTOCOL: Post‐basic Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Interventions to Improve Employability and Employment of TVET Graduates in Low‐ and Middle‐income Countries

PROTOCOL: Post‐basic Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Interventions to Improve Employability and Employment of TVET Graduates in Low‐ and Middle‐income Countries

Norms, economic conditions and household formation: A case study of the Arab world

Very little work has examined the question of household structure in the Arab region, despite the fact that there has been speculation that changes in household patterns have been occurring in recent years due to modernization, urbanization and changing marriage patterns. Using a number of primary data sources, including household surveys from Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and Egypt, as well as analysis by historians that uses archival sources, this paper compares household structure patterns across time and space, to answer the question—how have household patterns changed and do observed changes provide insights into the impact norms and/or structural factors have and will play in shaping household patterns? The data suggest that while often perceived as being the dominant household structure, extended family households are not the norm in the Arab world, nor have they necessarily predominated since the 1800s. In addition, patterns vary considerably across communities, with extended family households occurring more frequently in Syria and Yemen. Some trends that provide insight into the future, as well as being suggestive of possible changes in norms, include: the rising age of marriage; the increasing likelihood that women in particular will never marry; and the increasing ease, despite high levels of youth unemployment, for young people, including young women, to set up their own households. These trends also raise numerous questions about how much changes that are occurring are a function of individual choice or are shaped by cultural or economic pressures. Patterns currently being observed also provide insights into changes that are likely to occur in the future, since current trends suggest that future household patterns may be quite different in the coming years, and that youth, and in particular young women, may be in the process of gaining more autonomy in a number of countries.

The end of Swedish exceptionalism? Citizenship, neoliberalism and the politics of exclusion

Sweden, where some 20 per cent of the population is either foreign born or second generation, has long been known internationally as the model of a tolerant, egalitarian, multicultural welfare state, which extended substantial citizenship, welfare and labour rights to all within its borders, including immigrants. However, under the twin pressures of neoliberalism and the EU’s commitment to ‘managed migration’, this Swedish exceptionalism has been, and continues to be, substantially eroded. The shortcomings of the earlier multicultural settlement of the 1960s and 1970s, a growing extremist populism, the growth of an unprotected, semi-clandestine sector of the labour market, combined with high levels of youth unemployment and urban segregation, have led to unprecedented rioting and violence in Swedish cities. The voices of minority ethnic youth, many of them Muslim, should be heeded as rejecting the exclusivism of current political trends.

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT, FIRM SIZE AND RESERVATION WAGES IN SOUTH AFRICA

The level of youth unemployment in South Africa is much higher than in comparator countries. We investigate whether one of the reasons may be that the wages young people want or need are above those that they could reasonably expect to earn given their characteristics. Unlike previous work on the relationship between reservation wages and unemployment we differentiate between wages in different sizes of firms. Larger firms pay more and thus, even if reservation wages are similar to average predicted wages, they may be above the wages that young people could expect to earn in smaller firms. We find that this is the case.

Lost in transition? Substance abuse and risk of labour market exclusion from youth to adulthood

Despite low levels of youth unemployment in Norway, concerns have been raised about the high numbers of youth in inactivity, receiving health related social security benefits. It is argued that parts of the system of social security may work as welfare traps. OECD recommends welfare policies with the overall aim of fostering youth employability, not benefit dependency. In this article we use a unique combination of register data and survey data from the panel survey “work, lifestyle and health”. This survey follows a representative sample of the cohorts born between 1965 and 1968 from 1985 through follow-ups in 1987, 1989, 1993 and 2003. This allows us to follow individual life trajectories from ages 17-20 to 35-39. The aim of the article is first to study the impact of substance abuse upon risk of receiving social assistance, since previous research has found that receiving social assistance increases the probability of labour market exclusion in adulthood. Second, we analyse the impact of receiving social assistance, to have mental health problems and substance abuse in youth and consequences for labour market integration in adulthood. Analyses reveal that neither cannabis use nor alcohol consumption in youth have a direct effect on the risk of labour market exclusion in adulthood. However, cannabis use increases the probability of receiving social assistance, which in turn increases risk of labour market exclusion in adulthood. Mental health problems in youth increase risk for later labour market exclusion, but these effects are mediated through factors like problem behaviour related to alcohol abuse and the use of illegal drugs other than cannabis. Receiving social assistance in youth has long time effects on the risk of labour market exclusion, especially for individuals from the lower socioeconomic groups.

Introduction: North Africa and Britain

This special issue of International Affairs seeks to stimulate more debate and interest in Britain on North Africa. This relatively neglected area of British foreign policy has largely been funneled through the European Union (EU), where the focus of policy has been on preventive security, above all policing against illegal migration and the spread of radicalism and terrorism. The main driver for regional change and potential insecurity is now demographic, evident in the high levels of youth unemployment across North Africa. In facing the challenge of leadership successions over the next decade, it is in the interest of the EU, and in turn, Britain, to engage more closely with North Africa's younger generations to ensure the region's longer term security and stability. Britain has few strong bilateral links with North African societies, however, with the exception of private sector investments in the energy sector and security cooperation. New investment opportunities and a demand for English language and other forms of training for employment could put Britain at an advantage in responding to North African demands for diversified international relationships. A greater focus is also needed on local development opportunities to assist new actors to assume their own economic and political roles, as a better means of delivering security and jobs than relying on central states to deliver both. The articles in this special issue offer new insights into developments in the region, as well as analyses of European and American policy responses to the challenges identified. A common theme is that the region has been held back by a combined lack of institutional safeguards and political participation, with negative impacts on the spread of the economic benefits of higher growth rates and investment. Authoritarian leaderships have proved reliable partners for the EU and Britain in the past, but will they continue to do so in future?

THE IMPACT OF WELFARE AND LABOUR MARKET INSTITUTIONS ON INFORMAL RECRUITMENT IN EUROPEAN YOUTH LABOUR MARKETS

ABSTRACT Youth labour markets where informal recruitment practices predominate are likely to amplify existing inequalities among young job seekers. Whereas most literature on informal recruitment focuses on characteristics of individual job seekers and the nature of the jobs they obtain, this article suggests to relate this important issue to overarching dynamics of welfare and labour market institutions. Analyses of survey data among young people with a history of longer-term unemployment in eight European countries suggest that comprehensive welfare state arrangements may substitute for the importance of personal network resources in the job search process. Thus the welfare state may intervene by providing active measures to facilitate the job-matching process and by providing economic means to make young people less dependent on their social network. The level of youth unemployment also seems to be related to the extent of informal recruitment, which is found to be more widespread in the countries with high rates of youth unemployment.

Transition from university to work

The biggest advantage of the web survey method is that in many cases it is easier, faster and cheaper than any conventional methods. However, quality issues in web surveys are of interest because improving the quality of the survey process in terms of timeliness, response rate and accuracy is a basic requirement. The aim of this paper is to analyse several dimensions of quality of data collection through the web, adopting a mixed-mode contact and follow-up plan using both telephone and e-mail. In this way, we can compare differences between e-mail and telephone contact modes in response patterns on the occasion of both the first contact and the callbacks. Different quality indicators referring to data collection timeliness, the relationship between structural variables and quality of data collection process are computed. The data used on this empirical investigation concern university-to-work transition – an issue of great relevance in Italy considering its high levels of youth unemployment.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: How Realistic? / Réalisation des Objectifs du Développement du Millénium en Afrique: Combien est-il Réaliste?

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa: How Realistic? / Réalisation des Objectifs du Développement du Millénium en Afrique: Combien est-il Réaliste?

Australian Social Policy and the Genesis of the Twenty-Five Year Old Adolescent

We are very confused in Australia about the point of entry to adulthood, with different age ranges for different government programs existing side-by-side. Under the Federal Labor Government's Youth Homeless allowance, it was possible for children as young as 13 years to live independently with only minimal supervision from State Welfare departments. In 1989 The Burdekin Inquiry into youth homelessness together with a series of well publicised failures by child welfare authorities was partly responsible for a new protocol by the Federal-State Council of Social Welfare Ministers which increased the level of supervision of young ‘independent’; children, and thereby appeared to raise the threshold age for adulthood. The most important mechanism for the transition to independence and to adulthood is work and the level of youth unemployment (triple the national average between 15–19 years) is also extending dependency and thus, childhood. The trend towards the extension of childhood dependency received formal sanction through the Coalition Government's Youth Allowance which now makes it possible for a child to remain dependent on his or her parents until age 25 years.

Staying-on at school at 16: the impact of labor market conditions in Spain

Despite the recent increase in educational investment, Spain still ranks towards the bottom of the OECD country list for the level of its human capital stock and the new inflow of high school graduates. We address this issue by investigating the impact of family characteristics and local labor market conditions on the demand for post-compulsory education. We find clear evidence of a positive effect of youth unemployment on the demand for education, alongside with a negative effect of adult unemployment. However, in quantitative terms, the record levels of youth unemployment, that should discourage an early labor market entry, did not enhance substantially the demand for post-compulsory education. Parents' education seems instead to be the main determinant of school enrollment, producing a sort of inter-generational persistence in the Spanish stock of human capital.

Les privilèges des jeunes sur le marché du travail allemand

En Allemagne, la situation salariale des jeunes par rapport a celle des adultes n'a pas suivi une evolution aussi negative que dans les autres pays. Les donnees ne font apparaitre aucun effet de cisaillement sensible quant au salaire des jeunes, ni en general, ni par sexe, qualification, emploi occupe, secteur industriel, taille de l'entreprise. La tendance generale sur une periode d'observation plus longue etait plutot inverse, c'est-a-dire en faveur des plus jeunes. Aussi, la precarite des emplois proposes aux jeunes, a savoir travail a temps partiel, emplois a duree determinee, travail par interim ou sous contrat, n'est pas un veritable probleme en Allemagne, du moins pas autant pour les jeunes que pour les autres categories d'âge, et l'on ne constate aucune deterioration de la situation relative des jeunes. La principale raison de la situation salariale relativement favorable des jeunes est la moindre pression exercee sur ce groupe d'âge par un niveau de chomage des jeunes certes en augmentation, mais neanmoins inferieur a ce qui existe dans les autres pays. C'est le resultat d'un consensus social qui considere que la qualification et l'integration d'une nouvelle generation est l'un des objectifs politiques les plus importants a la realisation duquel doivent participer tous les groupes sociaux : le gouvernement, les jeunes, leur famille, les entreprises, et les syndicats

The Demand for Post-Compulsory Education in Four European Countries

This study seeks to explain changes in the post-compulsory education participation rates of 16- and 18-year-old people in England and Wales, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. The results suggest that the key explanatory variable is the increase in prior academic attainment before the end of compulsory schooling. While this is the case particularly for females, males are also influenced by the returns available to offering a higher level of education, and the level of real income available to 'spend' on education. The level of youth unemployment seems to play only a small part in the decision of whether to remain in education.

Economic Adversity and Criminal Behaviour: Rethinking Youth Unemployment and Crime

This paper argues that in order to understand the impact of youth unemployment on crime it is necessary to specify the particular social location and meaning of contemporary economic adversity. A starting point is an analysis of the collapse of the youth labour market. This has created high levels of youth unemployment, has dramatically worsened the educational situation of those who seek to leave school without high level qualifications, and has had major consequences for the income available to young people. These forms of economic adversity have direct impacts on the social lives of the early school leavers, and create a number of possible friction points with adults, such as conflicts over public space recognisable as the ‘mall problem’. We argue that there are particular forms of economic adversity which impact upon specific groups of young people, and these in turn may have consequences in terms of higher levels of recorded youth crime.

Policy failure in vocational education and training: the introduction of National Vocational Qualifications (1986‐1990)

One of the most prominent developments in vocational education and training in recent years has been the development of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in England and Wales, based on the assessment of an individual’s competence at work. However, the initial implementation of the NVQ policy generated a considerable amount of criticism. The standards of occupational competence on which the NVQs are based were attacked for being too narrow; employers appeared reluctant to take up the new qualifications; and the introduction of NVQs appeared to exacerbate, rather than mitigate, the “jungle” of vocational qualifications. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with key informants and an analysis of relevant documentation this article ascribes the initial failure of the NVQ initiative to progress in the manner that its planners had originally anticipated to the existence of certain institutional constraints: the political imperative to manage high levels of youth unemployment; inadequate accountability and supervision in policy implementation; the presence of a renewed ethos of voluntarism in UK labour market policy; and the weakness of employers’ representative structures.