Labour Market Demands, Employability and Authenticity

Abstract

Finding employment has been a challenge for young adults in recent years. This is not only due to high unemployment rates, but also because entering working life is more complicated than before. It is no longer just a question of credentials and skills. ‘Employability’ depends on investments in personal capacities: labour market demands in recruitment exceed the capacity of employees’ bodies and minds. This article asks what demands for increasing one’s employability young adults (aged 18–30) experience in relation to their education and working life and how they respond to these ideas, especially to the idea of modifying their minds and bodies—habitus—in order to increase their employability. What demands are they complying with or resisting? How and why are they doing so? The article draws on interviews with 40 young Finnish women and men. The data analysis reveals that employability ideals emphasising affective and bodily capacities or dispositions are not shared by everyone. However, modifying one’s attitude or demeanour seems to be less threatening for young adults than does changing one’s appearance or body. Changes to one’s body are associated with rules and codes dictated from above, whereas changing one’s mindset is usually conceived of as self-development; thus, it is not seen as contrary to authenticity. Identification with a line of work is an important factor in accepting demands on one’s body or demeanour. It should be asked if the importance of authenticity for young adults entering working life should be taken into consideration in governmental youth and employment policies.

‘Will I Find a Job?’ - Understanding the Employability Confidence of Students in Pakistan’s Labor Market

“…The moderating effect of the labor market: Individuals perceive the demand for workers in a specific field and geographical area (Álvarez-Gonzalez et al, 2017;Sok et al, 2013). Jackson & Tomlinson (2020), Nikunen (2021), Okolie et al (2019), Rothwell et al (2008), and Tomlinson et al (2022) all discussed the labor market's role in employability. According to the authors, the labor market plays a crucial role in shaping an individual's employability confidence.…”

‘It hasn’t Been the Best Year, but here I am’: Young Adults Interpreting their Agency in Relation to the Self-Governing Discourse, Social Relations and Life Contexts

“…Instead of blaming himself, Larry, in his narration, drew on a wider social explanation, the lack of support practices and the employer's failure to understand an employee who has special needs. The way he looked at the wider structures seemed to be a resource that he could utilise in making sense of his agency (see Yosso 2005) when understanding the act of becoming employed and not only as a question of young adults' own responsibility in taking care of their employability (see Nikunen 2021).…”

“…At the same time, debates on the need to explore and explain the question of youth individualisation-meaning the weakening of structural elements, traditions and identity categories in the life course of younger generations-have been initiated widely and are ongoing (see, for example, Baker 2019;Cahill and Cook 2019;Leccardi 2014;Simmons et al 2014). Current policy alignments concerning and framing the lives of young adults essentially emphasise the objectives of self-governing, freedom of choice and individual's employability (see Niemi and Jahnukainen 2020;Nikunen 2021). These societal discourses of individualisation and self-governing frame the context and expectations that are directed towards contemporary young adults regarding their agency.…”