Quality of life of NEET youth in comparative perspective: subjective well-being during the transition to adulthood

Abstract

In this study, we examine the self-reported subjective well-being (SWB) of youth who are 'not in employment, education or training' (NEET) across 24 countries in Europe. Theorising from a youth transition regimes perspective focusing on the varying levels of social protection available to youth as well as social norms regarding the transition into adulthood, we attempt to understand the psychological outcomes associated with youth NEET statuses across country contexts. Using European Social Survey (ESS) data, we compare not only the perceived welfare of NEET individuals with that of non-NEET youth, but also how it differs amongst specific NEET sub-categories. We hypothesize that the well-being of NEET youth will be highest where more comprehensive social protections are available, but that inequalities in well-being between NEET and non-NEET groups will be minimized in contexts where prolonged school-to-work transitions into adulthood are the social norm. We find that overall levels of well-being differ systematically amongst countries for both NEET and non-NEET groups, being highest in the Nordic countries. However, when examining relative scores that take into account the distribution of well-being within each country, we discover that inequalities between NEET sub-categories are also the most pronounced in these 'universalistic' contexts.

Contributions of the SocialNEET project to the development of skills for active life

“…The acronym NEET is used in the EU to define groups of young people between 15 and 34 years old who are not working in society, being considered a serious economic and social problem for the 27 Member States (Giret, Guégnard, & Joseph, 2020;Jongbloed & Giret, 2021). SocialNEET training seeks, through the provision of education for entrepreneurship, to contribute to the reduction of social disparities through the creation of self-employment, promoting the breaking of the first job paradigm and, therefore, fighting stereotypes linked to NEET terminology.…”

“…SocialNEET training seeks, through the provision of education for entrepreneurship, to contribute to the reduction of social disparities through the creation of self-employment, promoting the breaking of the first job paradigm and, therefore, fighting stereotypes linked to NEET terminology. According to Jongbloed and Giret (2021), the NEET terminology contributes to increasing the exclusion of young people from relationships in society, promoting the creation of stereotypes that cause their greater vulnerability in the labor market, since they are conceptualized as young people with few developed skills and low capacity for problem solving, with little appreciation of the professional curriculum, leading to social aggravations such as scarce employment opportunities, low pay and poverty. Still, according to Jongbloed and Giret (2021) and Lorinc et al (2019), the NEET condition acts in the ability to recognize the soft skills and well-being of young people, which can lead to depression, low self-esteem, causing problems in relationships with family and friends, in addition to other social problems.…”

“…According to Jongbloed and Giret (2021), the NEET terminology contributes to increasing the exclusion of young people from relationships in society, promoting the creation of stereotypes that cause their greater vulnerability in the labor market, since they are conceptualized as young people with few developed skills and low capacity for problem solving, with little appreciation of the professional curriculum, leading to social aggravations such as scarce employment opportunities, low pay and poverty. Still, according to Jongbloed and Giret (2021) and Lorinc et al (2019), the NEET condition acts in the ability to recognize the soft skills and well-being of young people, which can lead to depression, low self-esteem, causing problems in relationships with family and friends, in addition to other social problems. In this sense, it is important to have an educational / training intervention aimed at self-valorization, the (re)construction of a positive and realistic image of oneself, which allows the identification of your abilities and potentialities, as well as the areas of competence that need to be worked and developed.…”

State level agreed-upon factors contributing to more effective policymaking for public sector services for effective local-level work with NEETs

“…Over the last two decades, 15-29-year-old young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) have come under increasing scrutiny in both academic research (Simmons, Thompson and Russell 2014;Jongbloed and Giret 2021) and also youth policies (OECD 2015a;Mascherini 2019). The regional  approach to policymaking has been found to be beneficial in supporting this target group (Simões 2018;Rikala 2020;Karyda 2020).…”

Three decades of interventions for the unemployed – review of practices between 1990 and 2020 and their effects on (re) employment competencies

“…This constitutes a big issue as this information is important when trying to understand the real impact of the social context in which the interventions were carried out. The social, cultural and economic particularities of each country might contribute to a different understanding of the impacts of the training programmes on employment, as well as the differences in the outcomes that are expected to be developed (OECD Center for Opportunity and Equity, 2017; Jongbloed and Giret, 2021). Consequently, as no clear consensus has been achieved in terms of defining the qualities of employment, there is still a range of diverse characteristics that could influence the creation and evaluation of the programmes and training for the unemployed.…”