Conclusion - Fractured transitions: the changing context of young people’s labour market situations in Europe

Summary

This volume has sought to shed light on the changing fortunes of young people in Europe's labour markets and has highlighted a number of key policy dilemmas. The evidence we have amassed has shown how young people are at the sharp end of global economic change: it is they, rather than their elders, who experience the flexibility and precariousness described by Richard Sennett (1998). They are more likely to be unemployed, more likely to be in dead-end jobs and non-standard work, are less well paid and have more difficulty settling into long-term careers. Bianchi's chapter on Italy (Chapter Ten) offers an extreme example of this, where the employment rights gained by organised labour in the past mean that older workers cannot be removed from their protected jobs, thus restricting entry opportunities for the young. Along with Greece, Italy has currently the highest youth unemployment rate in Europe.

On the positive side, younger people are experiencing higher levels of education and training than previous generations, which may in the long term stand them in good stead. However, as many chapters have indicated, even degree-level education is no guarantor of a job. Fóti et al's chapter (Chapter Six) has highlighted the plight of well-educated youth in Hungary and Slovenia. In these countries there is a risk of ‘over-education’ because the level of employment seems to be lagging behind the rise of the educational level. Similarly, in the UK and the Netherlands (among other countries) many students on completing undergraduate degrees will take temporary low-skilled employment in bars, restaurants and call-centres, sometimes as a way to make money for travel or further study, sometimes as a way to find out a little more about the world of employment and their own capacities before launching themselves into a more ‘serious’ career trajectory. The involvement of students, both during their degrees and subsequently, in low-skilled work of course further restricts openings for youngsters without qualifications. While unqualified unemployed young people are offered a wealth of schemes and training opportunities in all European countries, research reveals that here, too, the education strategy has its limits. Malmberg-Heimonen and Julkunen's chapter (Chapter Eleven) shows that, while participating in schemes may aid young people to find employment, a significant number may get trapped in a scenario of recurrent scheme membership.