Data di Pubblicazione:
2012
Citazione:
Precarious work and high-skilled youth in Europe / [a cura di] M. Samek Lodovici, R. Semenza. - Milano : Franco Angeli, 2012. - ISBN 9788820407377. (ECONOMIA-RICERCHE)
Abstract:
During the current great recession, probably for the first time, we are witnessing a waste of highly educated youth in most European labour markets.
This paper seeks to contribute to the debate on the increasing precariousness, temporary work, disconnected transitions, over-qualification and skill mismatch trends affecting most high-skilled youth labour markets in Europe.
High-educational levels have usually played an important role in protecting individuals against both unemployment and underemployment: recent data show that the protection effect of higher education has been eroded by the crisis. Nowadays this is a crucial issue for the European Union.
Although inactivity and unemployment are more widespread among young people with low educational attainment, a growing share of young graduates are also ending up there, while those having jobs are increasingly employed in temporary and low-qualified positions. There are, however, appreciable differences across Europe, the Southern countries showing the worst labour market conditions.
The effects of precarious employment are particularly negative and persistent on young workers, as difficult early experiences of transition into work are likely to be associated with deterioration in long-term life chances (scarring effect). The prolonged labour market difficulties of young highly educated workers will also have relevant negative effects on the socio-economic growth potential of European countries. There is however little research on this specific segment of the labour force.
The paper presents the main results of a comparative research on “Risk Transitions and Missing Policies for Young High-Skilled Workers in Europe”, funded by the European Commission, which considers the labour market conditions of youth with tertiary education –ISCED level equal to or greater than 5– who have been experiencing precariousness, deskilling and unemployment in recent years, and it provides an overview on the current European labour market conditions and policies for graduates, with specific focus on selected countries (UK, Spain, Italy).
The analytical approach is mainly based on the transitional labour market literature (Schmid 2000, 2008) which assumes that individual pathways and careers are neither linear nor standardised. We consider key institutional factors affecting school-to-work transitions and labour market mobility: the role of higher education systems and apprenticeship training, the role of temporary work, the quality of ports of entry into the employment market. The paper analysed the transitions -often disconnected- between standard and nonstandard employment contracts, between employment and unemployment or inactivity (discouraged pathway).
The starting research question is to what extent tertiary education still represents a protection against unemployment and underemployment risks. To what extent do both the assumptions of the ‘human-capital theory’ in economics and the ‘educational-credentials theory’ in sociology still work? Answering these questions requires analysis in greater depth to avoid easy generalisations and assess the long-term structural consequences of the current crisis for economic growth and social conditions. Two main aspects are to be considered in a general perspective: the quantity and quality of the labour demand and the characteristics of the higher education systems, especially in terms of their ability to meet rapidly changing labour market needs.
Rising educational levels have proved to be among the most important trends in the changing nature of the labour force through time. From the economic perspective we can safely assume that the key drivers of the relative demand for more educated workers are linked to technological
Tipologia IRIS:
06 - Curatela di volume
Elenco autori:
M. Samek Lodovici, R. Semenza
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