Youth Entry and Progression in the British Labour Market (original) (raw)

Abstract

This paper presents initial findings from qualitative research concerning young people’s access to the labour market in the UK. Significant changes to the labour market, such as the decline of the manufacturing sector and the rise of the service sector as well as an increasingly globalised economy have broken traditional patterns of entry into employment (Bynner 2013: 34). In the context of high youth unemployment, research into the strategies young people are pursuing in order to gain jobs and careers is vital. With the increasing costs for education and training that is falling on young people and their families, a map of the kinds of provision and support available for prospective employees across the UK is also pertinent. Some areas of the UK retain persistently high levels of unemployment, suggesting they are not a “short-term disequilibrium phenomenon” that can be solved by a deregulated labour market, but are related to distinct regional differences and features (Ormerod 2014). The research seeks to understand labour market entry practices in different regions. It considers what young people are learning when they engage in activities such as work experience, volunteering, internships, apprenticeships or “employability” boot camps. What kinds of traits, competencies and attitudes are required for these young people to be considered “employable”? The research has a strong focus on charting regional disparities in “structures of opportunity” by comparing local economic policies, youth unemployment initiatives and regional labour market conditions. As well as regional differences, the research also compares the experiences by young people of different class, race and gender. The research is based on in-depth interviews with young people about their strategies for both labour market entry and career progression, and their experiences of looking for and being in work. Alongside this, ethnography based within youth employment programmes will explore the methods used in teaching skill formation, appropriate “work attitude” and to encourage professional development. Young people in six areas of the UK are involved in the study, enabling the researchers to chart differences between urban and rural settings. Following recent development in youth studies, this research combines the transitional and cultural approaches to youth, as well as offering a critical eye on “choice biographies” and the individualization thesis, to consider the importance of place for shaping young people’s agency and opportunities. The first two fieldsites will be studied in early 2014, ready for analysis before the BERA conference in September.

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