Young People and the Labour Market : A Comparative Perspective

Young people are a vulnerable category of workers, finding themselves in a delicate phase of their working life: their first entry into the labour market. In many European countries, youngsters are unemployed or have difficulty finding and obtaining jobs. This situation has deteriorated particularly after the crises, recessions and stagnation that has impacted European economies in recent years. In addition to the cyclical or crisis impact, structural factors are also very important. Additionally, prolonged crises, as in some Eurozone countries, have transformed a significant part of cyclical unemployment in structural (long term) unemployment. Young People and the Labour Market: A Comparative Perspective explores the condition of young people in the labour market. The authors present new evidence from several countries, with a special focus on Europe, and offer a comparative perspective. They investigate questions such as which structural conditions and labour market institutions guarantee better youth performance, which education systems and school-to-work processes are more effective and in which countries is gender differentiation less of an issue. All of the aforementioned, as well as many other comparisons which the authors make, are significant in helping to facilitate the successful design of labour and education policies. As the first investigation by economists to explore the complexity of this topic, this book will be useful to both economists and sociologists who are interested in the role of young people in the labour market, and the problem of youth unemployment.