Mi Ah Schøyen Chair
Martin Heidenreich Discussant
How has the European Youth Guarantee (YG) affected youth policies?
Analysing activating labour market policies we ask, if and how the YG has influenced the development of national youth employment systems. We use a most diverging case design with respect to employment regimes as well as centralised and federal state structures to analyse if ‘substantial’ or ‘procedural’ change has taken place within Greece, Spain and Germany. Results are indicating that ‘substantial changes’ occurred in Spain and Greece, but were not initiated by the YG. EU funding related to the YG was relevant to support the reform trajectory in the two Southern European countries, while at the same time the demand of European actors to implement austerity measures in consequence of the debt crisis formed severe restrictions. ‘Procedural changes’ like the integration of social partners or cross policy field coordination can be linked directly to EU-policy in Greece and Spain, but not in Germany. This may be concluded that the ‘Sovereignty’ of employment policies has been curtailed in the Southern European countries, while the influence of the European Union on Germany was rather low.
University of Bremen; Institute Labour and Economy
University of Bremen; Institute Labour and Economy
In this theoretical paper the typologies of different policy approaches/paradigms in the policy areas in focus (education, activation/ALMPs, employment protection and unemployment/income protection) and the principles guiding them will be confronted. An attempt for the synthesis is presented that could cover systematic differences with respect to the coordination of the different systems. Furthermore it is highlighted, if the different types would support self-governance and empowerment of young people to a different extent.
Masaryk University
Active agency of young unemployed through social investment policies?
We analyze public policies addressing youth employment, in order to explore if the welfare state is able to mitigate the job insecurity and to create opportunities for labour market inclusion of young people in the period 2008-2018. In particular, the focus will be on the role of social investment perspective that has become the dominant paradigm in European social policymaking. Despite its merits, social investment approach receives also criticism for overlooking poverty and inequality and for inability of complementing the economic rationale with other values, such as social justice, care and wellbeing. Therefore we ask, if the implementation of social investment policies supports active agency of (vulnerable) young people with different educational level, gender and ethnicity.
Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Science
Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, Bulgarian Academy of Science
Young people’s agency in difficult transitions: the role of national institutional settings
There is a broad literature on the negative effects derived from hectic labour market trajectories of young people. Previous research has documented long-term scarring effects on well-being, earnings and future employment prospects. The role of the institutional setting in contributing to these negative outcomes has been widely investigated. The aim of this paper is to present a complementary perspective on the impact of the institutional setting shaping first labour market transitions. We aim to assess the nature of individual agency of disadvantaged young people who found it difficult to make their transition in the labour market in the UK and Norway. The Capability Approach will be used to unveil when and how institutional mechanisms act as resources and positive factors of conversion, thus fostering individual agency. Empirically, the analysis will draw on an original data set of individual life course interviews conducted in the two countries in 2016.
University of Louvain
OsloMet
MI Ah Schøyen
OsloMet
Youth employment policies– a question of Sovereignty?
Category
Paper Panel
Description
June 22
2:00 PM - 3:45 PM
0.A.07
Abstract: Although we face an economic upturn in Europe the problem of youth unemployment is not solved, but varies a lot across countries: While Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and some CEE countries like Estonia; Hungary and the Czech Republic are far below European average, in the Mediterranean countries we still count rates between twenty (France and Portugal) and thirty per cent (Spain) as well as over forty per cent (Greece). We understand the conference as an opportunity to investigate ‘Sovereignties in Contention’ in relation to youth employment polices both at a macro and a micro level
First, we ask if and how European youth policies influence national employment and training systems. We line out if and how the Youth Guarantee has given inspiration to national policies. At the same time, however, fiscal policies must be seen as severe restriction to social investment policies in the southern European countries. Furthermore we discuss different theoretical approaches concerning youth employment policies. An overarching goal is to indicate which policies are best prepared to support not only labour market integration of young people, but also their self-governance and empowerment. This creates the link to micro level analysis that point at the consequences of unemployment, namely scarring effects that are going to harm young people in their development unemployment in comparative perspective.
Disciplines: Sociology
Political Science
Substantive Tags: Comparative Political Institutions, European Union and Integration, Political Economy, Social Inclusion, Welfare State and Social Policy
Research Networks: Political Economy and Welfare (formerly Industrial Relations, Skill Formation and Welfare State Policies)
