Young people and the Great Recession: Variations in the school-to-work transition in Europe and the United States

Abstract

This paper reviews evidence on young people in Europe and the US making the transition from school-to-work before and after the 2008 Great Recession. Taking a macro-level perspective, similarities and differences in education and employment experiences across different European countries are described, considering the role of different institutional support systems in 'scaffolding' young people's transitions to independence. It is argued that the 2008 financial crisis brought with it reduced employment opportunities for young people and accelerated pre-existing trends towards prolonged education participation and precarious employment. There are, however, considerable variations across different countries, highlighting the role of social institutions in supporting young people during the school-to-work transition. Transition systems that created bridges between education and employment are associated with lower national levels of youth unemployment, while young people coming of age in less-protective transition regimes suffered highest levels of youth unemployment, high levels of temporary employment and not being in education, employment or training (NEET).

Conceptualizing Individual Agency in the Transition from School to Work: A Social-Ecological Developmental Perspective

“…For example, in most developed countries, the number and proportion of full-time employees with contracts of indeterminate duration has decreased constantly since the mid 1980s, unemployment rates and the proportion of insecure jobs including "zero hours contracts" and precarious employment is growing even among graduates (Standing 2011;Schoon and Bynner 2019). The 2008 Great Recession added another blow.…”

“…Generally, the labor-market integration of new entrants tends to be faster in countries characterized by strong institutional linkages between education and the labor market, and strong institutional networks which can support transitions from education to work. And indeed, employment focused countries, such as Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have been most successful in keeping young people engaged in the labor market with youth unemployment rates mostly stayed around 10% (Schoon and Bynner 2019;OECD 2019). This was mostly due to the efficient use of vocational training programs and well-organized pathways that connect initial education with work and further study, but also due to a strong economy and robust employment protection regulations.…”

On the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the intention to leave the parental home

“…Economic recessions tend to prolong the time needed for young people to make their transition to adulthood. The 2008 Great Recession has largely shown the mechanisms at work: because economic crises especially reduce youth employment opportunities (Bell and Blanchflower 2011;Schoon and Bynner 2017), the pre-existing tendency towards prolonged education participation and precarious occupations has been accentuated. This process resulted, for many young people, into a postponement of some life events such as reaching housing and economic independence from the family of origin.…”

“…from youth to adulthood), the result has been a strong increase of the youth unemployment rate, the spread of involuntary temporary occupations and the enlargement of the subgroup of young individuals neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) (e.g. Schoon and Bynner 2019). All these conditions have been found related with a lower propensity to undertake the traditional steps toward the transition to adulthood (Rosina et al 2007, Sironi and Rosina 2015, Vignoli et al 2012, Vignoli et al 2013, Vignoli et al 2016).…”

“…sustaining the transition from education to labour market, providing income and housing support, etc.) tend to reduce the economic uncertainty and vulnerability derived by the economic crises (Schoon and Bynner 2019). In less protective welfare regimes, such as in Southern Europe, given the occupational and income instability due to the recession, young people may decide simply to prolong their stay in the parental home to avoiding any additional income risks derived by the crisis (Sironi 2018).…”