All roads leading to Rome? The medium term outcomes of Australian youth’s transition pathways from education

Young people’s transition from education into the labour market are diverse: sometimes direct from school to work or inactivity, sometimes characterised by stop-starts and combinations of different activities. This paper explores the association between transition pathways of Australian youth and their outcomes, in terms of earnings, perceptions of employment opportunities and debt. It builds on analysis by Fry and Boulton [2013. Prevalence of Transition Pathways in Australia. Canberra: Productivity Commission Staff Working Paper] who identified five pathways most typically taken by 15–24 year old Australians over a 10 year period, including quasi linear transitions from education to work with and without study, combinations of work and study, multiple churning between labour market statuses, and transitions into prolonged periods of inactivity. The present study adds four more years of panel data that have since become available, and compares the labour market outcomes of the different pathways at age 29–38. Earnings and employment perception converged over time, but debt did not. Socio-demographics were most strongly associated with outcomes, but earnings were also greater for churners and for young people in extended education increasingly combined with work. Transitions that combined learning and work seemingly strategically or ‘flexibly’ appeared most rewarding in the medium term, although neither compensated for socio-economic difference.     

School-to-work transition: the case of Spanish NEETs

The school-to-work transition in Spain has become much more difficult and extended than before, with many young people today experiencing long periods of temporary employment, unemployment or inactivity. This article investigates the main socio-demographic characteristics of Spanish young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs). It also aims to compare them with their non-NEET counterparts in terms of social capital and family background. Analyses were based on a representative sample, corresponding to the year 2016, of Spanish young individuals ages 18–35 years (n?=?1.826). All analyses were stratified by gender and age group. Overall, the Spanish NEETs had lower educational levels, were mainly unemployed and married, except for NEETs between 18 and 24 years, who were rather inactive and single. They also experienced previous unemployment, had more unemployed friends, and were coming from poorer family backgrounds in comparison with their non-NEET counterparts.     

Risk factors of NEET (Not in Employment,Education or Training) in South Korea: an empirical study using panel data

This study aims to analyse the risk factors for being in NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) in South Korea. More specifically, this study examines how individual and family characteristics at ages 16–17 affect the probability of being in NEET during 20–25 years old period using data from the Youth Panel Study. The analysis results reveal that the rate of NEET among poor youth is about four times higher than that of high-income group in 2014. And poverty, not having career plan and school dissatisfaction during high school period are related to the increased likelihood of being in NEET.     

A cross-country comparison of alcohol,tobacco, and marijuana use among youth who are employed,in school or out of the labor force and school (OLFS)

Labor force and school attachment may influence alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use in the US and Canada. Differences in social welfare provision, which provide protections for individuals with insecure attachments to the labor force or education, may in turn impact the behavior and health of youth in these countries. Yet, there is little research to understand the health consequences for youth of being out of the labor force and school (OLFS). Data of 25–29 year old participants of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (year 2010) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (2009–2010) were used to examine differences in substance use by labor force and school attachment. Logistic regression suggests that OLFS in the US and Canada were less likely to report alcohol uptake and more likely to use tobacco compared to employed youth. Unemployment was differentially associated with substance use behaviors by country. Country of residence and subsequent exposure to social welfare policy does not appear to impact substance use behaviors among OLFS. However, associations of unemployment and gender by country indicates differences in substance use behavior. More research should seek to understand factors that influence alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use among OLFS and unemployed youth.     

Persistency in the NEET state: a longitudinal analysis

This article addresses the NEET phenomenon in a longitudinal perspective, by examining the case of Italy, a country experiencing one of the highest and increasing NEET shares in the EU. We exploit the longitudinal sample of the 2008-2011 EU-SILC data, providing self-declared information on individuals’ educational and occupational status on a monthly basis for 4 years. Firstly, we propose a classification of individual histories in education, employment and the NEET states. According to our estimates, more than 40% of the Italian young people report being NEET for at least 13 months out of 48, and more than 10% for (almost) the entire period. Secondly, we examine the composition of the NEET groups and draw a long-term NEET risk profile for individuals from different sociodemographic groups. Thirdly, we examine the longitudinal histories by distinguishing between unemployment and inactivity spells. Our findings show that the NEET phenomenon among Italian young adults is largely an issue of unemployment. The only exception is represented by Italian older females with children, the majority of which portrays themselves as inactive. Still, a sizable portion of these women define themselves as being mainly ‘unemployed’ instead of ‘performing domestic tasks’, indicating an unsatisfied wish or need to work.     

The NEET concept in comparative youth research: the Nordic countries and South Africa

The NEET concept has become widely used internationally since its emergence in the UK almost two decades ago. This article reviews the adoption of the concept in two extreme contexts in terms of NEET rates, youth opportunities and youth welfare: the Nordic countries and South Africa. The article discusses the situations of NEET young people in the two contexts, and how the concept is used in the wealthy and relatively homogenous Nordic welfare states and in relatively poorer and racially divided South Africa. While the concept has been problematised in different ways in Nordic youth research, it has been more readily accepted by South African researchers. We argue that, in both contexts, the NEET concept can be taken as an invitation to look beyond individual life situations and biographies, and to focus on how structural forces such as the political economy shape young people’s lives. The NEET concept provides a way of discussing changing opportunity structures and how global social forces such as globalisation and neoliberalisation shape young people’s lives in different contexts. The NEET concept is useful in comparative youth research.     

Distance and mastery: poetic inquiry of young people’s subjectification processes

An increasing number of young people under 30 do not complete upper secondary education and have difficulty gaining a foothold on the labour market. Hence, there is great interest, politically as well as academically, in finding out ‘what works’ in terms of helping young people. At the same time, however, there is also a lack of research that examines the processes these young people are involved in and the context that has an effect on these. By applying the method of poetic inquiry, this article examines subjectifications processes that have education as the focal point. Poetic inquiry provides an opportunity to explore and construct ‘evocative’ and ‘polyvocal’ analyses of the young people’s subjectification processes in the current employment policy context. The analyses demonstrate how different forms of ‘distance’ occur and how the young people simultaneously are trying to master these.     

个人主义视域下农村青年婚姻“啃老”现象探究--以黑龙江省D村为例

在社会转型期,“啃老”这一现象较为普遍。农村男青年在婚姻中需要父母提供住房以及高额的彩礼,实质上是一种“啃老”。以个人主义的视域观之,青年人由于缺乏作为个人主义核心价值基础的独立自主与自力更生的意识,其行为表现极度自私。农村父母将为儿子完婚视为自己的一种责任,青年人的“无思”导致其缺乏权利与义务相平衡的观念,这两方面的因素共同促成了农村男青年婚姻“啃老”现象的发生。个人主义视域下,破解这一社会问题的进路在于培育具备主体意识的现代公民。     

Labour market participation among young refugees in Sweden and the potential of education: a national cohort study

This register-based study examined the importance of education on labour market participation among young refugees in Sweden. The study population consisted of unaccompanied (n?=?1606) and accompanied refuges (n?=?4142), aged 23–26 years in 2006–2010, after 7 years of residence in Sweden. Native Swedish, aged 24 years (n?=?347,255) constituted the comparison population, with intercountry adoptees (n?=?6689) as an alternative reference group. Gender-stratified multinomial regression models indicated that unaccompanied and accompanied male and female young refugees had higher risks of being in insecure work force and NEET compared to native Swedes with comparable levels of education. However, young refugees and intercountry adoptees with primary education had similar risks of poor labour market outcomes. The educational differences within each group concerning the risk of being in insecure work force were comparable. With the exception of unaccompanied females, secondary education seemed to be less protective against being in NEET among young refugees compared to native Swedes and intercountry adoptees. We conclude that while young refugees face employment disadvantages, education has the potential of mitigating poor labour market outcomes in this group.     

Rethinking motivational challenges amongst young adults on the margin

This article is concerned with how motivation to take an education can be stimulated in young adults who are on the margins of the labour market and educational system. It is widely accepted that young adults in such a position have motivational problems regarding education because of negative schooling experiences, interrupted education, absenteeism, etc. Despite this, in Europe, education is commonly proposed as the solution to the problem of the high proportion of 15–29 year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). This paradox of having to motivate young adults under pressure is the focus of the article. The article argues that there is a need to theoretically redefine motivation as a phenomenon linked to the individual to a more contextually embedded understanding of motivation as the result of a process between the young and their surroundings, opportunities and perspectives. The article presents a model with five motivational orientations suggesting a new perspective on re-motivating young adults on the margin of the labour market and educational system, while it also discusses the challenges connected to promoting a focus on motivation at a time when the liberalisation of education is increasingly central to the welfare state strategy.