Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in employment status trajectories of young Europeans during their initial labour market experience, and the way in which they are affected by some labour market institutions. Design/methodology/approach The empirical analysis is based on EU-SILC longitudinal data (waves 2006–2012), and focusses on young people aged 16–34. Monthly information on self-declared employment statuses for 36 months is used to define “employment status trajectories”. Young people are observed in two different phases: the first three years after leaving education (first phase) and a three-year window, starting around four years after the end of education (2nd phase). Multinomial logit models are used to estimate the probability of following different trajectory types as a function of individual characteristics, macroeconomic conditions and institutional indicators. Findings Results show that, in the first phase, women and men face on average the same difficulties in entering the labour market. When controlling for the presence of children, non-mothers have higher chances than men to enter rapidly and successfully into the labour market, whereas young mothers have the same chances. In contrast, in the second phase women experience more fragmented pathways than men, even if they do not have children. A less stringent regulation on dismissals of employees with regular contracts could enhance women’s employment opportunities in the school-to-work transition, but it would have detrimental effects for both men and women in the subsequent years. On the contrary, a more stringent regulation on the use of temporary contracts would have beneficial effects for women, with no adverse effects for men. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it takes a broader perspective on youth labour market integration by considering two phases of individuals’ initial working life. Second, it combines an explicit attention to the first “significant” employment experience with a focus on individual trajectories, by adopting a new method to group trajectories. Third, it shows how the effects of labour market institutions vary by gender, highlighting the importance of considering gender-specific consequences when discussing or adopting labour market reforms.

The shift of policy focus from job security to employment security calls for a more dynamic measurement of young people's labour market performance. This article uses data on monthly employment status trajectories and job duration to investigate young Europeans' employment security around five years after they finished education. The authors show that almost 40 per cent of "job-insecure" individuals actually enjoy employment security -i.e. they are able to re-enter paid employment rapidly after losing their job. The article highlights the need for policy measures to enhance employment security, and the positive role that stricter temporary employment protection, and ALMP expenditure, could play.

This chapter adopts a dynamic approach to the study of youth labor market integration. It focuses on individual trajectories (i.e., sequences of employment statuses) and considers the timing, order, and length of employment and jobless spells. It uses EU-SILC longitudinal data (2006–2012) for 17 countries to depict youth employment outcomes in two different phases: labor market entry and approximately 5 years after leaving education. The extent to which the experience of a certain trajectory type differs by gender, education level, and across countries is analyzed. Results show that although males and females have similar chances of accessing paid employment rapidly, women’s labor market conditions deteriorate over the following few years in terms of both security and success. Stricter rules on the use of temporary contracts tend to reduce the probability of fragmented trajectories in both phases, narrowing the gender and education gaps with respect to employment and income security.

Resumen El interés político en la seguridad del empleo ya no se centra en la estabilidad laboral, sino en la empleabilidad, lo cual exige cambios en el modo de evaluar el desempeño de los jóvenes en el mercado de trabajo. Con datos sobre la evolución mensual de la situación laboral y sobre la duración real del empleo, se investigan ambos parámetros en jóvenes europeos unos cinco años después de finalizar sus estudios. El 40 por ciento sufre inestabilidad laboral pero su nivel de empleabilidad les permite encontrar rápidamente un empleo en caso de perderlo. Las autoras defienden políticas que refuercen la empleabilidad, una protección del empleo temporal más estricta y más gasto en políticas de activación (PAMT).

This paper presents a new approach to evaluating individuals’ employment quality, considering the evolution of individuals’ employment conditions over a period of time, instead of the quality of jobs held at a point in time. In particular, we present a new definition of employment quality, based on four dimensions: employment security, income security, income success and occupational success. Using EU-SILC data, we analyse the early labour market experience of young adults and the extent to which the achievement of employment quality around five years after leaving education varies according to gender, education and labour market institutions. Our findings suggest that there is still a pressing need to enhance women’s chances of remaining continuously in employment and to move up in the labour income distribution. Stricter rules on the use of temporary contracts appear to improve youth employment prospects in general, whereas a more stringent regulation of individual dismissals seems to generate some difficulties for high-school and university graduates.