Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction
- two Method and research design
- three Unemployment, integration and marginalisation: a comparative 29 perspective on 18- to-24-year olds in Finland, Sweden, Scotland and Spain
- four Processes of marginalisation at work: integration of young people 45 in the labour market through temporary employment
- five Recurrence of youth unemployment: a longitudinal comparative approach
- six Scheme participation and employment outcome of young unemployed people: empirical findings from nine European countries
- seven Youth participation in the labour market in Germany, Spain and Sweden
- eight Surviving unemployment: a question of money or families?
- nine Buffers and predictors of mental health problems among unemployed young women in countries with different breadwinner models
- ten Economic hardship, employment status and psychological wellbeing of young people in Europe
- eleven Welfare regimes and political activity among unemployed young people
- twelve Concluding remarks
- Appendix: Samples and attrition
- Index
eight - Surviving unemployment: a question of money or families?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Notes on contributors
- one Introduction
- two Method and research design
- three Unemployment, integration and marginalisation: a comparative 29 perspective on 18- to-24-year olds in Finland, Sweden, Scotland and Spain
- four Processes of marginalisation at work: integration of young people 45 in the labour market through temporary employment
- five Recurrence of youth unemployment: a longitudinal comparative approach
- six Scheme participation and employment outcome of young unemployed people: empirical findings from nine European countries
- seven Youth participation in the labour market in Germany, Spain and Sweden
- eight Surviving unemployment: a question of money or families?
- nine Buffers and predictors of mental health problems among unemployed young women in countries with different breadwinner models
- ten Economic hardship, employment status and psychological wellbeing of young people in Europe
- eleven Welfare regimes and political activity among unemployed young people
- twelve Concluding remarks
- Appendix: Samples and attrition
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Young people are at a stage in life when their financial situation is often strained. Setting up one's own home, getting established in the labour market, and having children and being on a low income are clearly related to financial problems. Young people tend not to have accumulated financial resources, and have therefore a high poverty risk (Julkunen, 2000). Long-term unemployment in this age group may accelerate a development towards poverty and welfare dependency. There is a need for comparative knowledge of contrasting policies and outcomes of different welfare models in Europe. The aim of this chapter is to analyse and compare the financial circumstances of young unemployed people in six different European countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Italy – to study how different welfare arrangements influence the risk of financial marginalisation among unemployed youth. The countries represent three different clusters with similar welfare strategies: a Nordic model of advanced institutional welfare (Finland, Denmark and Norway); a model with moderate institutional and family arrangements in combination with corporate social protection (Scotland); and a southern European model with welfare strategies relying on the family as the prime source of welfare (Spain and Italy) (Vogel, 1997). How have young people survived unemployment? To what extent does financial deprivation prevail among them and are there different outcomes in countries with different strategies? The study draws on comparative surveys among representative samples of unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds who had been unemployed for at least three months continuously and were interviewed 12 months later in 10 countries across Europe.
Relative deprivation
Today, the young face a restructured labour market, an increased demand for qualifications and flexibility in the workplace, and cuts in social benefits that extend the period in which they remain dependent on their families. The changing structural context for the young can be seen in the way that the pattern of poverty has changed, as there has been a marked shift in the composition of the poor, away from older towards younger households. The pattern of higher poverty rates among young people appears to be a general trend all over Europe, (Vogel, 1997). The only exception seems to be the UK, where poverty rates are higher among middle-age groups. Deprivation is also an important concept in the analysis of social conditions and should be distinguished from poverty.
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- Youth Unemployment and Social Exclusion in EuropeA Comparative Study, pp. 135 - 154Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2003