Youth transitions to employment and adulthood have become increasingly protracted and precarious. The Great Recession exacerbated these difficulties. The varied European experiences affect young people differently in terms of their gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, even in successful countries. Youth Labor in Transition examines young people’s integration into employment, transitions affected by the family and moving away to live independently, and the decisions and consequences of migrating to find work and later returning home. The authors identify some of the key challenges for the future concerning young people not in employment, education, or training (NEETs); overeducation; self-employment; ethnicity; scarring effects; as well as the values and attitudes of young people and how they identify with trade unions. The central concept informing this research is based on a comparative analysis of transitions, policy performance, and learning approaches to overcoming youth unemployment. It illuminates when and how labor market analysis informs policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation based on extensive multimethod empirical research across the European continent. Collectively, the authors illustrate the need to encompass a wider understanding of youth employment and job insecurity by including an analysis of both the sphere of economic production and how it relates to social reproduction of labor if policy intervention is to be effective. Mapping and extensively analyzing these transitions is the result of original empirical analysis drawn from a three-and-a-half-year European Union-funded research project: STYLE—Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe.

This book is included in DOAB.