The Not So Great Recovery— Economic Policy in the Making of the European Crisis of Youth (original) (raw)
Related papers
The economic crisis in Europe is often viewed as a continuation of the global financial crisis. However, it appears that the prolongnation of the banking crises in the EU was catalyzed by real economic problems, like high unemployment rates, which were growing already before the global downturn. Multilevel methods are used to construct a more diffuse understanding of the European crisis, combining the European Quality of Life Survey with national statistics. The analysis suggests that there are two partially overlapping crises in Europe: the young, often viewed as being at the eye of the crisis, are burdened by unemployment in those countries suffering from the public financing problems. In contrast, where higher education is more common, the young are deprived and insecure. The paper demonstrates that this two-fold nature of the crisis has not been properly acknowledged by the public while national policies could have even deepend the crisis.
The economic crisis in Europe is often articulated as a direct consequence of Lehman Brothers’ collapse. Yet it was only in Europe that the real economic crisis was sustained in a peculiar, prolonged way. In this comparative study of the EU-27, I examine the different manifestations of the crisis with an emphasis on employment, marginalisation and inequality. The thesis asks how to locate the crisis and the people the most affected by it; how different policy responses (stimulation, social investment, active labour market policies) can be viewed in connection with the crisis. The study is based on multilevel methods by which I analyse how individual experiences are linked to and explained by national differences. Multiple correspondence analysis is used to model subjective experiences. There are four main results to this study. First, there is no correlation between fiscal, financial and welfare-related aspects of the crisis. Therefore, the imbalances of the public economy do not straightforwardly justify the recent cuts to social protection. Second, and coincidently, in countries where expenditure on social protection has been maintaned, economic difficulties have been less emphatic. Non-social stimulation bears no similar benefits. Third, in the so-called post-Fordist, education-intensive economies the subjective effects of the crisis are systematically stronger. These effects are the most emphatic among the young, indicating vast sustained consequences into adulthood. However, the attitudes of young adults are straying further. The unemployed young and those working in fixed-term contracts relate differently to insecurity, lacking shared, generation-wide experiences and representations of conflict. In conclusion, qualitative changes in the conditions of work make the crisis present everywhere in Europe, including Protestant countries where the effects of the banking crisis were limited. As a possible alternative explanation my thesis then frames the crisis as a crisis of ‘post-Fordist’ work, asking whether it is primarily ‘financial’ except as a rhetorical construct. I then discuss its broad implications to welfare and inter-generational equity.
Youth Unemployment in times of Crises in the EU 27
FiBS Forum 72, 2020
The financial crisis led to rising unemployment levels for adult as well as for youth. The unemployment level rose across the EU 27 after 2008 and peaked only in 2013, i.e. decline started only from 2014 onwards. The middle and high qualified youth (20-29 years old) had the lowest percentage point increase in unemployment between 2007 and 2013, which rose from 7 percent to 11 percent, and managed to reach their pre-crisis levels by 2017. While the low qualified youth were disproportionately hit by the crisis, witnessing an increase in unemployment levels from 13 to 22 percent between 2007 and 2013. Moreover, they have also not managed to return to their pre-crisis unemployment level in 2019. However, it should be noted that while youth unemployment increased more in absolute terms relative increase as well as relative difference to overall employment did not change much. This indicates a level effect rather than a mere age effect.
Euro, crisis and unemployment: Youth patterns, youth policies?
Economic Modelling, 2016
This paper examines the occurrence of structural breaks in European unemployment associated with major events experienced by the European economies at an institutional level: the creation of the European and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999, and the Euro/financial crisis in 2008-2009, which was followed by a general and intensive reform process in the years afterwards. Beyond the well documented asymmetries across countries, we uncover different responses of adult and youth unemployment rates. While adult unemployment is more prone to experience structural breaks, youth unemployment is more sensitive to business cycle oscillations. This has been especially so in the recent crisis and calls for fine tuning policy measures specifically targeted to youth unemployed in bad times. One important implication of our findings is that generic labour market reforms are not effective enough to solve the youth unemployment problem across Europe. We point to educational policies that raise average qualifications and help school-to-work transitions as suitable complementary cures.
Youth Unemployment in Europe – Business Cycles, Crises, and Policy Responses
Proceedings of CBU in Economics and Business
Purpose: The goal of the paper is to analyse in which countries’ youth unemployment is statistically pro or countercyclical and how crises in the last decade have affected it. What would the plausible explanations for diverging patterns within the EU and other European countries be? In what terms is the young people’s labour market across Europe imbalanced? Methodology: The paper builds on Gontkovicova et al.’s (2015) analysis of correlations between GDP growth and youth unemployment on an annual basis by adding more indicators and considering the quarterly basis as well. The quantitative approach is enriched by qualitative insights on Southeast European countries studied within the Erasmus+ YouthCap project (CRA, 2020). Findings: Most of the countercyclical youth unemployment trends in the last 20 years are observed in Eastern European countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia). From Western European countries Iceland, Denmark and Portugal are countercyclical. The most resi...
Youth vulnerability in Europe during the Great Recession
The paper gives an update to earlier analysis considering youth poverty and transition to adulthood, which is timely given the economic crisis engulfing many countries in Europe. Whereas, the crisis is affecting young people in particular, there is also huge variation across Europe. We document the short-term consequences of the current recession on the transition to adulthood of young Europeans, focusing on two main cornerstones in the transition to adulthood: economic independence and residential autonomy. We show an almost universal increase in financial hardship experienced by young adults during the recession, which is starting to translate into higher rates of co-residence with parents, hence delaying the process of leaving home and gaining economic independence. The economic recession will have a huge impact on young people and their the transition to adulthood.Economic deprivation and uncertainty will most likely delay the key markers of transition to adulthood.
Youth employment trajectories and labour market reforms during the Great Recession in Europe
Sinappsi, 2021
The Great Recession had profound consequences for the quantity and quality of work for young people in European countries. Usual labour market indicators capture only some crisis effects, highlighting the need for a more dynamic and nuanced approach. As a result, this paper adopts an innovative approach to both the analysis of the integration of young adults (aged 17-34) on to the labour market and the study of the relationship between the labour market performance and policy making. La Grande Recessione generò un forte impatto sulla quantità e la qualità del lavoro dei giovani adulti nei paesi dell’Europa. Gli indicatori convenzionali del mercato del lavoro catturano solo alcuni degli effetti prodotti dalla crisi, sollecitando un approccio dinamico più variegato. Su questa strada si muove l’articolo, adottando un approccio innovativo sia all’analisi dell’integrazione dei giovani adulti (17-34 anni) nel mercato del lavoro sia allo studio della relazione tra le condizioni occupaziona...
Research Papers of Wrocław University of Economics,, 2018
Literature review has shown that the demographic dimension of the labour market changes remains generally overlooked. The paper aims at filling the gap. The main question asked in the paper is: what are the long-term consequences of the crisis 2008-2009 for youth labour market in the European countries? In order to answer the question, the changes in youth employment to population ratio in 33 European countries are analysed. Any change in the employment to population ratio is a result of combined demographic and labour market effect. While the demographic changes vary between countries; it is argued that a crosscountry comparative analysis that does not take into account the role of demographic shifts is likely to provide a misleading picture of the labour market conditions. Keywords: youth employment, youth labour market, demographic trends, the Great Recession, employment to population ratio. Streszczenie: Przegląd literatury pozwolił zauważyć, że w dyskusji na temat zmian na rynku pracy brakuje uwzględnienia aspektu demograficznego. Celem tego artykułu jest wypełnienie tej luki, poprzez ocenę wpływu zmian demograficznych na rynek pracy osób młody po kryzy-sie finansowym (2008-2009) w 33 krajach europejskich. W artykule zadane zostało pytanie: jakie są długoterminowe skutki zmian wskaźnika zatrudnienia do populacji osób młodych w 33 krajach europejskich? Każda zmiana w poziomie wskaźnika zatrudnienie/populacja osób młodych jest efektem zmian w liczbie zatrudnionych i liczebności osób w danej grupie 1 The paper was drafted under implementation of a research project: "Welfare State and inequalities in subjective well-being-comparative studies of European countries", financed with funds of the National Science Centre (No. 2013/11/B/HS5/03618). PN_510_Social Policy Controversies and Paradoxes.indb 125 2018-08-13 11:25:34 126 Piotr Michoń wiekowej. Zmiany demograficzne różnią się między krajami, dlatego analiza porównawcza, która nie bierze pod uwagę ich roli, może tworzyć błędny obraz rzeczywistości. Słowa kluczowe: zatrudnienie młodych, rynek pracy młodych, trendy demograficzne, Wielka Recesja, wskaźnik zatrudnienia do populacji.