Territorial disparities in youth labour market chances in Europe

Abstract

Comparative research on youth employment has mostly focused on differences between countries or regimes of youth transitions. The territorial differentiation below country level has been less explored, notwithstanding the potential impact on youth-life chances and the territorial cohesion of the European Union. This paper aims at deepening into the investigation of regional variations in patterns of youth labour market chances. To do this, we build on a composite indicator measuring regional youth labour market integration (YLMI) as a comprehensive measure of contextual fragilities (or strengths) of regional youth labour markets. We provide both comparative and longitudinal views over 15 years . Furthermore, we explore the impact of contextual factors related to economic conditions, labour market and demographic trends on the regional patterns of youth integration in the labour market.

What, for whom, and under what circumstances: Do activation policies increase youth employment in the EU?

“…To further explore the complex configurations of ALMPs, we looked at ALMPs' effects by groups of regions according to service employmentgiven that youth employment is concentrated mostly in the service sector (Grotti et al, 2018). We found evidence of various configurations in the demand and supply of skills, and therefore of the existence of groups of regions (Diemer et al, 2022) as regional contexts of opportunities for youth (Cefalo and Scandurra, 2021). The main finding here is that the benefits of labour market policies (training) and efficient employment services are captured mostly by the better-off educated youth in more specialized and growing regions.…”

“…Fourth, we control for regional contextual traits related to socio-demographic and sectoral specialization (Cefalo and Scandurra, 2021; Diemer et al, 2022; Scandurra et al, 2021b) by identifying the socioeconomic factors that moderate the effects of ALMPs. Controlling for contextual traits and ‘problem pressure’ is an established way of assessing policy effort (Bonoli, 2013; Kuitto, 2016).…”

“…Scandurra et al (2021a) show that the regional scale is highly relevant in explaining within-country variation in school-to-work transitions outcomes. Further empirical evidence using regions as units of analysis also shows variations in regional youth unemployment, NEET and youth employment rates (Bruno et al, 2014;Cefalo and Scandurra, 2021;Rambla and Scandurra, 2021;Scandurra et al, 2021b). When looking at regional drivers of youth employment, this literature draws from investigations at national level that point towards sectoral economic and labour market characteristics (De Lange et al, 2014;Tomić, 2018); and demographic trends, such as the dynamics of youth mobility (King and Williams, 2019).…”

“…As for demographic trends, the size of the youth population defines the potential labour supply of the region, and is affected by skill- and age-selective migration with large regional variation (Prenzel and Iammarino, 2021). Regions of out-flowing migration may, for instance, display reduced competition for labour market access (Cefalo and Scandurra, 2021). However, emigration risks exacerbating brain-drain dynamics, possibly leading to labour and skill shortages in the long term.…”

Special issue of International Journal of Social Welfare: Integrating young people in the labour market, integrating methodologies

“…Other scholars stressed that countries and typologies at national level tend to take for granted a high degree of internal homogeneity (Cefalo et al, 2020; Scandurra et al, 2021b). Moreover, research on territorial cohesion and spatial disparities showed that Europe harbours relevant regional and local differentiations, so that within‐country variation is often higher than variation between countries (Cefalo & Scandurra, 2021; Iammarino et al, 2018; Storper, 2018).…”