Youth Labour Market Integration Research Articles

Striding on a Winding Road: Young People’s Transitions from Education to Work in Bulgaria

The transition from education to work in the global economy is no longer a straightforward one-time move for young people. In Bulgaria, this change started with the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in the 1990s and was accompanied by the arrival of high rates of early school leaving, youth unemployment, and a growing group of disengaged youths (NEETs). The European initiatives in support of youth labour market integration are translated locally, with a narrow focus on “employability” while neglecting the many educational, training, and social needs of young people. The analysis in this paper is informed by the theoretical framework of life course research. It starts with an elaboration of the recontextualisation of EU policies such as the Youth Guarantee in the local realities of socioeconomic structures using Eurostat and national data. Second, we present 4 case studies (selected out of a total of 42 in-depth interviews) of young adults aged 18–30 in order to highlight the ways in which young people’s individual agency filters and influences the institutional policies and practices regulating youth social integration. Our qualitative analysis reveals the multiplicity and diversity of youth journeys into work through the institutions and social structures and the inadequacy of the applied policy measures.

Drivers of Youth Labour Market Integration Across European Regions

Territorial disparities and youth labour markets have been often considered as separated themes, due to challenges in data availability. Comparative regional or sub-regional research on youth labour market integration (YLMI) have been therefore scarce. In this article, we address this gap by presenting a composite measure of YLMI that covers a wide range of indicators and sheds light on the EU territorial divide of young peoples’ opportunities at regional level. In order to build the YLMI index, we use benefit-of-the-doubt-weighting, a seminal methodology on composite indicators (CI) that combines sequence with conditional weights based on the range of each sub-indicator. To proof the usefulness of YLMI, we analyze the evolution of regional YLMI in the EU before and after the economic crisis; and the trends of homogenization or differentiation across EU territories. Furthermore, we investigate to what extent employment conditions, skills supply and technological resources explain cross-regional variations in YLMI.

Territorial disparities in youth labour market chances in Europe

ABSTRACT Comparative research on youth employment has mostly focused on differences between countries or regimes of youth transitions. The territorial differentiation below country level has been less explored, notwithstanding the potential impact on youth-life chances and the territorial cohesion of the European Union. This paper aims at deepening into the investigation of regional variations in patterns of youth labour market chances. To do this, we build on a composite indicator measuring regional youth labour market integration (YLMI) as a comprehensive measure of contextual fragilities (or strengths) of regional youth labour markets. We provide both comparative and longitudinal views over 15 years (2004–18). Furthermore, we explore the impact of contextual factors related to economic conditions, labour market and demographic trends on the regional patterns of youth integration in the labour market.

Corrigendum to ‘The vocational specificity of educational systems and youth labour market integration: A literature review and meta-analysis’

Corrigendum to ‘The vocational specificity of educational systems and youth labour market integration: A literature review and meta-analysis’

The Vocational Specificity of Educational Systems and Youth Labour Market Integration: A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract Comparative research on the impact of the vocational specificity of educational systems on youth labour market integration has expanded rapidly in the past decades. The present study reviews this body of research, focusing on how it has conceptualized the vocational specificity of educational systems and theorized its effect on youth labour market integration. Moreover, this study synthesizes the empirical evidence compiled in this research using a meta-analytical approach. Our review reveals that this research area is theoretically fragmented. A commonly accepted definition of the vocational specificity of educational systems is lacking and various theoretical approaches and conceptual frameworks are invoked to theorize the effect of vocational specificity, while exact mechanisms that are assumed to underlie the effect are often left unspecified. Our meta-analysis includes 105 effect estimates nested in 19 studies, published between 2003 and 2018, that used methods enabling a formal meta-analytical comparison. Results show that the overall average effect is positive and statistically significant but its magnitude is modest and there is substantial variability in the size and even direction of observed effects. We find that this variability is partly driven by which aspect of labour market integration was examined and which measure of vocational specificity was used.

The relevance of public employment services for the labour market integration of low-qualified young people – a cross-European perspective

ABSTRACT In the wake of the Great Recession, youth labour market integration has become a central issue in both national as well as EU policy, e.g. in connection with the European Youth Guarantee. In this context, public employment services (PES) are considered central actors in promoting youth labour market integration. However, since international comparative analyses are scarce and the role of institutions and policies is thus rarely explicated, it is still an open empirical question whether and in which context PES can fulfil such a key role. Therefore, we analyse two questions based on the EU-LFS 2016 ad-hoc module: (i) How relevant is PES support to young people with different educational levels in finding a job? (ii) How do differences in the educational system and in labour market policies shape the relevance of PES support across Europe? This study illustrates that in countries with highly stratified, standardised and vocational-specific educational systems the relevance of PES is comparatively high in particular for the low-qualified. Thus, those countries have good reasons to strengthen PES to support the most disadvantaged and to combat labour market inequalities.

Youth Labor Market Integration in European Regions

Countries’ institutional configurations and structural characteristics play an important role in shaping transitions from school to work. Recent empirical evidence shows significant regional and territorial differences in youth unemployment and labor market participation. Along this research strand, we argue in favor of a place-sensitive approach to youth labor market integration in order to address the regional disparities of young people’s opportunities. In order to investigate the synergic effect of different contextual configurations, we construct a composite measure, namely, the youth labor market integration (YLMI) index. This considers a wide range of indicators of the access, exclusion, and duration of the transition into employment at the regional level. The YLMI index allows cross-regional and longitudinal comparisons of the European Union (EU) local labor markets and youth employment opportunities.

The vocational impact of educational programs on youth labor market integration

Much research is done on the impact of vocational education and training (VET) systems on youth’s transition from school to work. However, this research treats vocational education within countries as a homogeneous entity and as if the ‘vocational effect’ equally applies to the entire VET system, while nuanced insights in the within-country heterogeneity of the vocational impact are remarkably scattered. This study attempts to open this black box by investigating to what extent the vocational specificity of educational programs has a positive impact on having a paid job and experiencing immediate job entry and job matching among recently graduated VET school-leavers in the Netherlands. Additionally, we theorize and test the moderating role of regional youth unemployment rates. Unique to this study are the two vocational measurements of programs, which were obtained by assessments of professionals involved in the programs (e.g. teachers, managers, education coordinators). Using data from the VET survey and VET expert survey – covering 114 educational programs between 2010 and 2014 – our multilevel models generally show a positive vocational impact of programs on youth’s labor market opportunities. Unexpectedly, the vocational impact does not vary with regional youth unemployment rates. We reflect on our findings within the context of current school-to-work literature.

The role of different types of skills and signals in youth labor market integration

This paper investigates to what extent self-rated job-specific and generic skills and different types of educational signals are positively related to the labor market integration process of Dutch graduates, 18 months after finishing upper secondary vocational education. Our contributions to the current literature are that of simultaneously investigating these different types of skills and (a more extensive concept of) educational signals, and moreover examining to what extent the impact of self-rated specific skills and educational signals differ between the four labor market outcomes under investigation. We analyzed secondary survey data from the VET survey collected in the Netherlands in 2015. Results indicate that (1) self-rated specific skills—acquired either in education or on the job—are more positively related to favorable labor market outcomes than self-rated generic skills in the first 18 months of graduates’ integration process, (2) only certain educational signals positively impact labor market integration, and (3) the positive impact of self-rated specific skills and signals varies between different labor market outcomes.

Gender inequalities in the initial labour market experience of young Europeans

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in employment status trajectories of young Europeans during their initial labour market experience, and the way in which they are affected by some labour market institutions.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis is based on EU-SILC longitudinal data (waves 2006–2012), and focusses on young people aged 16–34. Monthly information on self-declared employment statuses for 36 months is used to define “employment status trajectories”. Young people are observed in two different phases: the first three years after leaving education (first phase) and a three-year window, starting around four years after the end of education (2nd phase). Multinomial logit models are used to estimate the probability of following different trajectory types as a function of individual characteristics, macroeconomic conditions and institutional indicators.FindingsResults show that, in the first phase, women and men face on average the same difficulties in entering the labour market. When controlling for the presence of children, non-mothers have higher chances than men to enter rapidly and successfully into the labour market, whereas young mothers have the same chances. In contrast, in the second phase women experience more fragmented pathways than men, even if they do not have children. A less stringent regulation on dismissals of employees with regular contracts could enhance women’s employment opportunities in the school-to-work transition, but it would have detrimental effects for both men and women in the subsequent years. On the contrary, a more stringent regulation on the use of temporary contracts would have beneficial effects for women, with no adverse effects for men.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it takes a broader perspective on youth labour market integration by considering two phases of individuals’ initial working life. Second, it combines an explicit attention to the first “significant” employment experience with a focus on individual trajectories, by adopting a new method to group trajectories. Third, it shows how the effects of labour market institutions vary by gender, highlighting the importance of considering gender-specific consequences when discussing or adopting labour market reforms.

The determinants of youth labor market integration in Cameroon: is family Socioeconomic-background more effective than education?

Background: The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of socioeconomic background and human capital on young people’s labor market integration. A review of the literature suggests that in addition to human capital, other factors not directly related to individual productivity play an important role in labor market integration. Data Source & Method : The empirical work is based on the analysis of a firsthand biographical database from Bafia, a Cameroonian city. Results: Results show that young people from privileged background are more likely to swiftly enter the wage sector than their peers from disadvantaged background. Conclusion: This result is not only due to the fact that former received more education than the latter but also because of the existence of a sort of privileged birth-related premium not induced by the formal education level.

Pirates – The Young and the Jobless: The Effect of Youth Bulges and Youth Labor Market Integration on Maritime Piracy

This article examines the impact of youth bulges and the lack of perspective of this cohort associated with the insufficient absorption of the labor market on the emergence of piracy acts. For a large panel data-set on maritime piracy and armed robbery against ships for the period 1990–2015 negative binomial regression results indicate that a large fraction of young people in a country increases the likelihood of piracy attacks originating from that country. Further, the piracy-driving effect is conditional on constrains in the labor market. It increases when the young population is insufficiently integrated into the labor market and becomes insignificant for high levels of labor force participation. The dearth of prospects seems to lower the inhibition to make a living from criminal activity.

Prospects: Reflecting back, looking forward

I am pleased to introduce this ambitious and thought-provoking issue of Prospects, which inaugurates my appointment as the Director of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) and Editor-in-Chief of the journal. Having served as a member of its Editorial Board for many years, I have already had the opportunity to closely witness its remarkable intellectual journey and development, and contribute actively to it. Thus, my new role of Editor-in-Chief comes as a natural next stage, one that aims at continuing to publish a journal whose high quality standards and distinctive profile, substance and identity make it a landmark among many other journals of comparative education. It also comes with the challenge to build a stronger, even more prestigious and globally visible journal. Its merits should extend beyond publishing sound peer-reviewed academic articles, to producing well-grounded, reliable work that responds to today’s educational questions and policy needs, with a special focus on curriculum-related issues. As we move toward making the IBE a global Center of Excellence, we need to reflect deeply about reorienting the journal so that it can contribute optimally to IBE’s core mandate and goals; key among them is strengthening the capacity of education systems to equitably provide high quality education and effective learning opportunities. This issue is a clear step in the new direction and illustrates our efforts to more effectively address IBE’s strategic goals and mandate. Key topics featured in this issue include education quality, equity, access to learning, teacher professionalism, community participation and youth labour market integration. The geographical coverage of the articles is notable; it includes Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, China, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal and West Africa. The contributors to this issue are from a vast spectrum of cultures, represent different horizons of thought and belong to different generations. Despite these differences and the diversity of topics they address, the main themes of the articles are interwoven. A recurring

Youth Labour Market Integration Across Europe

ABSTRACTYoung people in Europe face great difficulties nowadays when entering the labour market. Unemployment and temporary employment are high among youth, although considerable differences 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 educational differences in the impact of these macro-characteristics. To answer these questions, we use data on young people from 29 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. Both unemployment and temporary employment are regarded as a lack of labour market integration, compared to the situation of permanent employment. The empirical results first of all show that high unemployment hinders young people to smoothly integrate into the labour market. In addition, economic globalisation positively affects youth labour market integration. We also demonstrate that young people experience less difficulties with labour market integration as the educational system is more vocationally specific. Intermediate and higher educated particularly 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.

De arbeidsmarktintegratie van jongeren in Europa verklaard

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.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of labour market integration of young people

In recent years there has been a resurge of interest in young people's employment problems, the focus of labour economists and sociologists during the Seventies and Eighties, also covering countries with apparently good employment situations (such as Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom). This interest is timely and Europe-wide, prompted by escalating youth unemployment, difficulties in the transition from school to the labour market and the precariousness of short-term employment alternating with unemployment. Even countries with a high level of adult employment and some of the best labour-market performances have encountered problems in recent years. The unfavourable position of young people in the labour market is evident across Europe. Figure 1 (Annex 1)2 shows the youth-to-adult unemployment ratio (15-29 versus 30-59) in the 27 member countries, where Lithuania shows the lowest, followed by Germany, and Italy the highest ratio, followed by Sweden and UK, countries with a youth-to-adult unemployment ratio of over 3. The same figure indicates an increase of this ratio between 2000 and 2005, the most striking example being Sweden, whose youth-to-adult unemployment ratio rose from 1.6 in 2000 to over 3 in 2005. Also in UK, Cyprus and Austria we find a strong deterioration of this ratio. The only, slight improvements can be found in Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Poland. Evidently, that the integration of young people in the labour market is becoming increasingly difficult, subject to long entry periods in which unemployment alternates with atypical contracts (see Figure 2, Annex 1). The more or less stable level of the youth to total employment ratio from 2000 to 2005 (except for Luxembourg, rising from 4 in 2000 to almost 6 in 2005, Romania dropping from 4 in 2000 to under 3 in 2005 and Cyprus with the lowest value in 2005, around 1.5, slightly less than in 2000, see Figure 4, Annex 1) shows that temporary employment is becoming widespread among the young. The share of under 12-month contracts ranges from 28-29% in Greece and the Netherlands to 55% in Spain, 59% in Sweden and 66% in Finland (see Table 16, Annex 1). The accession of the EU 12 has had repercussions on the mean age of women at childbirth (on average the new member countries have an age two years below the mean, see Table 32, Annex 1) and on other elements such as the level of human capital, performances on the labour market, and the age of entry in the labour market. However, these gaps seem to be narrowing, revealing an alarming general picture. This chapter will explore the reasons for this insufficient labour-market integration through the statistical-econometric analysis of quantitative data, based on EUROSTAT source and qualitative data. The first section illustrates the indicators of youth labour-market integration in the 27 member states, discussing the reasons for insufficient labour- market integration. The second section estimates how indicators of human capital affect the labour-market integration of young people. The third section analyses how labour-market institutions and differences in employment protection legislation are responsible for differences in the size of youth employment. The forth section describes the contribution young people make to the labour force and economic growth and provide recommendations to improve the labour market integration of young people.

Transition from Educational System to Labour Market in the European Union

Theoretically, the central research question of this article pertains to the way in which national institutional arrangements, namely educational systems, and related modes of labour markets and welfare provisions, affect the aggregate effectiveness of youth labour market integration in the new EU member states in comparison to the old EU countries. The study utilizes the European Union Labour Force Survey 2004. Results of the cluster analysis provide substantial support for distinct patterns of labour market entry in terms of the stratification of labour market exclusion, downgrading risk and labour market mobility of LM entrants in different CEE countries. Furthermore, the article reveals also new aspects of labour market entry in the EU-15 countries while considering not only educational signalling but also the labour market flexibility dimension.

Patterns of Labour Market Entry

Youth labour market integration differs considerably across European countries. There are marked cross-national differences not only in terms of youth unemployment, but also in terms of the quality of the jobs in which young people are employed. This article explains cross-national patterns of labour market entry among school-leavers in 11 European countries. It is hypothesized that national differences in employment protection legislation and the vocational specificity of the education system, in addition to the structural effect of macro-economic conditions, attribute to the observed cross-national variation in youth labour market integration. On the basis of the European Union LFS 2000 ad hoc module on school-to-work transitions, the speed, the quality and the stability of the labour market entry process are analysed. The results indicate that national institutional differences regarding employment protection legislation and the vocational specificity of the education system do indeed affect cross-national differences in labour market entry patterns. However, the impact of both institutional features varies considerably by level of education.

Youth labour market integration in Spain: Search time, job duration and skill mismatch

In recent years young workers in Spain have had great difficulties in finding and maintaining a job. Furthermore, the early histories of new entrants into the Spanish labour market has typically involved young workers accepting jobs for which the required level of education is lower that the attained level. Using the ad hoc module of the Labour Force Survey (2nd quarter, 2000), in this paper I analyse the transition from school to work for a sample of Spanish youths who left education for the first time after 1990. I allow the search period after completing education, the duration of the first significant job, and the probability of being over-educated in that job to be correlated in a system of simultaneous equations which is estimated by maximum likelihood. The results suggest that over-educated workers experience shorter durations in their first significant job. I do not find a direct effect of search time on employment duration. However, there are unobserved factors that increase the first unemployed job search period after completing education, and that also increase the subsequent employment duration.