European Youth Labour Markets (eBook)

Miguel Ángel Malo is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Salamanca (Spain). He has been a visiting scholar at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, UK), European Centre for Analysis in the Social Sciences (University of Essex, UK), National Bureau for Economic Research (USA) and the International Labour Organization (Switzerland). His main research interests are employment policies, labour market segmentation, employment protection legislation, employment of people with disabilities, and the impact of labour market performance on poverty and social exclusion. From 2007 to 2009 he was President of the Spanish Association for Labour Economics.  During 2013, he was on leave working as a Senior Economist at the International Labour Organization in Geneva. Almudena Moreno Mínguez received her PhD in Sociology from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona in 2004 and she is a professor in Sociology at the University of Valladolid (Spain). She is specialist in social public policies and comparative research on youth, family and gender. She was visiting researcher at the Universities of Oxford (United Kingdom), McGill (Canada), Göteborg (Sweden), Stirling (United Kingdom), Torino (Italy) and Chicago (USA). She has taken part in scientific committees and European projects on gender equality policies and youth. Her research work has been recognized with the International Award for Young Sociologists, given by the International Sociological Association in 1998 as well as a research award given by the Fundación Acción Familiar in 2004 and also the Extraordinary Ph.D. Award by the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona in 2004. Her recent publications are: “The early school leaving in Europe: Approaching the explanatory factors", New Horizons in Education, (2014); “Family policy indicators and well-being in Europe from evolutionary perspective”, Applied Research of Quality of Life Review, (2015); Family Well-Being: European Perspectives. Social Indicators Research Springer (2013), "Family and gender roles in Spain from a comparative perspective”, European Societies (2010); "The transition to adulthood in Spain in a comparative perspective: the incidence of structural factors”, Young Nordic Journal of Youth Research (2012); The Transition to Adulthood in Spain Economic Crisis and Late Emancipation, Fundation la Caixa, (2013). She has coordinated research conducted by Spanish Institute of Youth within the project “Spanish Youth Report” in 2008 and 2012. Se has been the Editor of the book Family Well-being. European Perspectives, Springer and she has taken part as reviewer in several international journals. 

Acknowledgements 5
Contents 6
Contributors 8
Chapter 1: Introduction 10
1.1 Motivation 10
1.2 Outline of the Chapters 11
1.2.1 International Comparisons and Country Analyses 11
1.2.2 Identifying Problems 12
1.2.3 Policies 13
Chapter 2: Youth Labour Market Prospects and Recent Policy Developments 15
2.1 Introduction 15
2.2 Recent Labour Market and Social Trends Among Youth 16
2.2.1 Young Europeans Face some of the Highest Unemployment Rates Across Regions 16
2.2.2 Risks of Social Exclusion Are Being Driven by a Lack of Quality Opportunities 18
2.3 Recent Policy Developments 19
2.3.1 A Comprehensive and Innovative Labour Market Approach: The Youth Guarantee 20
2.3.2 What Makes Youth Labour Interventions Successful? A Look at the Youth Guarantee Country Programmes 22
2.3.3 Policy Developments Towards an Effective Response to the Youth Labour Market Crisis: The Implementation of the Youth Guarantee 24
2.3.3.1 European Countries’ Measures to Support Youth Employment 25
2.3.3.2 Existing Support Mechanisms for the Implementation of Youth Policies 30
2.4 Conclusions 31
References 33
Chapter 3: Youth Employment in the Iberian Countries 35
3.1 Introduction 35
3.2 Problems of the Youth Labour Markets in the Iberian Countries 36
3.2.1 Youth Unemployment 37
3.2.2 Education 40
3.3 Policies for the Youth Labour Markets in the Iberian Countries 42
3.3.1 Youth Employment Programmes in Spain 43
3.3.2 Implementation of the Youth Guarantee in Spain 45
3.3.3 Youth Employment Programmes in Portugal 48
3.3.4 The Youth Guarantee in Spain and Portugal 48
3.4 Conclusion 50
References 51
Chapter 4: What Makes Greek Youth More Vulnerable to Unemployment? 52
4.1 Introduction 52
4.2 Youth Unemployment and the Case of Greece 54
4.3 Data and Methodology 57
4.4 Results 60
4.5 Conclusions 65
References 66
Chapter 5: Youth Labour Market in Central and Eastern Europe 68
5.1 Introduction 68
5.2 Institutional Features Framing Youth Labour Market Transitions 69
5.2.1 Educational and Training Systems 69
5.2.2 Labour Market Regulations 70
5.2.3 Labour Market Policies 70
5.2.4 Labour Market Entry Regimes 71
5.3 The Role of Institutions in the CEE Countries 71
5.4 Analytic Strategy 76
5.4.1 Data and Sample 76
5.4.2 Analysis 77
5.5 Youth Labour Market Transition Patterns 78
5.6 Summary and Discussion 82
References 84
Chapter 6: Apprenticeship Training in Upper Secondary School: Motives and Possibilities from a Swedish and European Perspective 86
6.1 A Background to the Growing Interest in Apprenticeship Training 86
6.1.1 Young People Encounter More Significant Social Risks 87
6.1.2 Increasingly Individualised Transitional Patterns 87
6.2 Increasing Welfare Policy Mismatch: Apprenticeship Training or Solution? 88
6.2.1 Advantages of Apprenticeship Training 89
6.2.2 Conditions for Apprenticeship Training 90
6.3 What Do We Know About the Significance and Effects of Apprenticeship Training? 91
6.4 Various Vocational Training Models 91
6.4.1 Impacts of Apprenticeship Training 92
6.5 VET and Apprenticeship Training in Sweden 94
6.5.1 The Outcome of the Latest Reforms 95
6.6 The European Union and Apprenticeship Training 96
6.6.1 Specific Initiatives for Apprenticeship Training 96
6.6.2 The Extent and Organisation of Apprenticeship Training in Europe 96
6.7 Summary and Conclusions 97
6.7.1 The Importance of Apprenticeship Systems 97
6.7.2 The Swedish Experiences 99
References 100
Chapter 7: Youth Employment in Spain: Flows In and Out During the Great Recession and Employment Stability 102
7.1 Introduction 102
7.2 Youth Access to Employment 105
7.3 Study of the Probability of Ending an Open-Ended Contract by Cause That Motivates Termination 108
7.3.1 Specifying the Model According to the Causes of Terminating an Open-Ended Contract 108
7.3.2 Results of the Estimated Model 109
7.4 Conclusions 112
References 113
Chapter 8: Transition from Education to Employment: Comparative Assessment of Youth Guarantee Policies in Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Latvia 115
8.1 Introduction 115
8.2 Transitions to Adulthood in a Neoliberal Context 116
8.3 The Transition from Education to Employment: Challenges and Risks 118
8.4 (Un)Employment and Educational Trends in Three Selected Countries 119
8.5 Youth Guarantee Plans to Assist the Transition from Education to Employment 121
8.6 Discussion 125
8.7 Conclusions 126
References 128
Chapter 9: Labour Market Transitions in Italy: The Case of the NEET 130
9.1 Introduction 130
9.2 Data and Sample 133
9.3 The Econometric Analysis 137
9.4 Estimation Results 138
9.5 Conclusions 143
Appendix 145
References 146
Chapter 10: Early School Dropout in Spain: Evolution During the Great Recession 148
10.1 Introduction 148
10.2 Early School Dropout in Spain 149
10.3 Early School Dropout and Labour Market Conditions in Spain 152
10.4 Tackling Early School Dropout in a Changing Environment 158
References 160
Chapter 11: Overeducation Among European University Graduates: A Constraint or a Choice? 162
11.1 Introduction 162
11.2 Overeducation: Theory and Evidence 164
11.2.1 Overeducation as a Constraint Factor 164
11.2.2 Theoretical Frameworks That Disregard Overeducation as a Constraint 165
11.3 Job Satisfaction and Satisfaction with Education 166
11.4 Data and Methods 168
11.5 Results 171
11.6 Conclusions 176
References 178
Chapter 12: Labour Productivity, Temporary Work, and Youth Unemployment: The Experience of Southern Europe 180
12.1 Introduction 180
12.2 Background 181
12.3 Data and Descriptive Statistics 183
12.4 Econometric Framework and Results 186
12.5 Robustness Checks 189
12.6 Conclusions 189
References 191
Chapter 13: Promoting Youth Employment in Europe: Evidence-Based Policy Lessons 193
13.1 Introduction 193
13.2 The Institutional Framework 194
13.2.1 School-to-Work Transitions and Vocational Education and Training 194
13.2.2 Minimum Wage Legislation 196
13.2.3 Employment Protection Legislation 197
13.3 The Role of Labour Market Policies 198
13.3.1 Unemployment Benefits, Activation and ALMP Spending 198
13.3.2 Assessing the Effectiveness of ALMPs and Activation 201
13.4 Conclusions and Policy Issues 205
References 206
Chapter14: Europeanization of Youth Policy: Case Study of Finland and Norway 209
14.1 Introduction 209
14.2 Is There a European Youth Policy? 210
14.3 Europeanization of Youth Policy in Nordic States in Narratives 211
14.4 Conclusion 219
References 220
Primary Sources 220
Secondary Sources 221
Chapter 15: The Evaluation of a Finnish Youth Guarantee: Lessons for Europe? 222
15.1 Introduction 222
15.2 The Youth Guarantee 224
15.3 Empirical Strategy 225
15.3.1 Identification 225
15.3.2 Data 226
15.4 Results 228
15.5 Robustness Checks 232
15.6 Conclusions 235
References 236
Chapter 16: Initiatives to Combat the Labour Market Exclusion of Youth in Northern Europe: A Meta-analysis 238
16.1 Introduction 238
16.2 Data and Methodological Approach 240
16.3 Results 245
16.4 Summary and Discussion 250
References 251
References of Studies Included in the Meta-analysis 252
Index 255