Neet Youth – The Concept’s Presence in the European Union’s Youth Employment Policy and Why It Is So Problematic

Abstract

The article focuses on the introduction and usage of the so-called "NEET" (Neither in Employment nor in Education and Training) concept in the European Union. The term itself comes with several issues connected with its proper definition, or the negative connotations associated with it. Since 2011, the group of young people from the age of 15 to 29 who are in NEET status has been the highest priority in the EU youth employment policy and was referred to in many of the Union's policy documents, despite no research having been done on the NEET phenomena before the introduction of this concept; whether at the EU level, or in any of the Member States except for the United Kingdom (the UK), where it was used in reference to teenagers ranging in age from 16 to 18. The main point of introducing the NEET concept in the Union is supposed to be drawing the attention of policymakers and European society to this particular group of young Europeans. This article presents some negative issues connected with the concept's usage, like: assuming the "normal" way of youth development to only be working, studying, or training, which applies some negative connotations associated with this term in a number of EU countries, oblivious of other groups in difficult positions, or associating NEETs with social exclusion. Moreover, the article analyses the implementation in the Union of a flagship initiative to deal with the so called "NEET crisis"-the Youth Guarantee.

Is the Digital Revolution Conducive to Neet Activation? Opinions of People Involved in Neet Activation

“…The EU policymakers even sometimes referred to having a "NEET crisis" (Mascherini, 2012). In 2012, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofund) recommended to focus on young disadvantaged people, mainly the NEET youth, in the age range of 15 to 29 that are excluded from labor and from the education market in the EU (Mascherini, 2012;Liszka, Walawender, 2018). The NEET rate is considered the share of individuals who are not engaged in employment, education or training in the total population of young people in a given territorial area collectively (Mirończuk, 2014).…”

“…In recent years, studies not only focus on unemployed youth, including NEET persons from a particular geographic area, but also on the macrolevel factors of nations, such as the economic growth, the educational system and the overall condition of the labor market institutions supporting the group of young people (Bacher et al, 2017). Particular focus, despite the employment policies, is on the area of the vocational education and the positive effect of the dual apprenticeship systems on employment ability of youth (Bacher et al, 2017;Liszka, Walawender, 2021). Some other studies focus on institutions and their staff.…”

Circular Economy: a Comparison Between the Case of Singapore and France

“…The CE in France is based on the targets of the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Belaud et al 2019), and its aim is increasing waste valorization to 70% weight by 2020 and developing a CE through a Construction and Demolition (C&D) management for recycling and reusing. The CE framework in France was established on August 17, 2015, by the French parliament (Liszka and Walawender 2018) as shown in Fig. 8.…”

Macro-Determinants of NEET: An Ecological Study at the Country Level of Analysis for the Period 1997–2020

“…NEET status is explained not only by individual choices and characteristics (e.g., female gender, school attainment) but also by family background characteristics (e.g., parental education and jobless condition, sibling labour force status, immigrant parents) and socioeconomic factors [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Despite the NEET concept itself being somewhat problematic (e.g., it refers to a heterogeneous group of people, it defines young people in negative terms highlighting what they are not, it is associated with negative connotations) [12], the NEET phenomenon guarantees increasing attention from mental and public health experts [11,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Long-term (more than five months) NEET status is associated with risk factors, such as taking a career role, seclusion at home, involvement in deviant activities, and addiction or health problems [11].…”