Final Report Summary - YOUNEX (Youth, unemployment and exclusion in Europe: A multidimensional approach to understanding the conditions for social and political integration of young unemployed)
Executive summary:
The institutional analysis has shown that political opportunities for precarious and unemployed youth do not fit with a post-national model of politics. In other words, we have not found an increasing convergence amongst the various macro-level contexts which we have examined. In fact, each dimension of the political context shows wide cross-national variations that could hardly be ignored.
The organisational survey has shown that civil society organisations support the integration of young unemployed and precarious workers in two ways: by fostering individuals' engagement and political or public awareness on specific issues like unemployment; and / or by delivering services related to welfare provisions.
In general, the individual survey shows that long-term unemployed young adults in Europe are not a homogenous group. They differ in a variety of aspects: their socio-demographic background, their attitudes to work, employment and unemployment, their experiences of social and political exclusion vary, as well as their experiences of well-being.
The analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews conducted according the grounded theory methodology has provided substantial insights into the situation of young long-term unemployed people. It has been mainly focused on the impact of unemployment on social and political exclusion and on the ways young people cope with this situation.
The analysis of European Union (EU) policies in the field of youth unemployment has provided insights into the relevant policy agendas, initiatives and recommendations of European institutions.
The discussion groups have shown that each national and even local situation has its own specificities. Indeed, one of the main results of this work package (WP) lies in stressing how policies and measures aimed at fighting unemployment and its negative consequences at the social as well as political level need to take into account the specific context in which those policies and measures are to be implemented.
Project context and objectives:
YOUNEX aims to provide new knowledge on the causes, processes, and perspectives for change related to social and political exclusion of unemployed youth. It will provide an integrated approach to the study of unemployment effects on youth exclusion from social and political spheres.
The project has three main objectives:
- The first objective is to generate a new body of data on the personal life of young unemployed and precarious youth by focusing on: their perception of their situation, their life projects, their identity development, the intensity and quality of their social relations, their political participation and their attitudes toward political institutions and society at large.
- The second objective is to advance theory and extend knowledge on social and political exclusion of young unemployed and precarious youth. We aim to understand better whether unemployment and precariousness necessarily leads to the marginalisation or exclusion of young people from social and political life. We assume that exclusion is the outcome of the interplay between situational characteristics of youth, the particular structure of local civil societies, and public institutions and policies.
- The third objective is to provide practical insights into the potential paths for social and political integration of young unemployed and precarious youth. These findings could be used both by public authorities and non-state welfare organisations to improve youth inclusion in social and political life.
The overall design of the research has three main components:
- A multidimensional theoretical framework that integrates different explanatory factors (public policies and institutions, organised civil society and the situation of individual unemployment) while taking into account various dimensions of exclusion (political exclusion, social exclusion and individual well-being).
- A cross-national comparative design that includes six European cities in countries with different institutional approaches to unemployment: Geneva (Switzerland), Cologne (Germany), Turin (Italy), Lyon (France), Karlstad (Sweden), and Kielce (Poland).
- An integrated methodological approach based on multiple sources and methods, both quantitative and qualitative.
Project Results:
Institutional analysis
The institutional analysis has shown that political opportunities for precarious and unemployed youth do not fit with a post-national model of politics. In other words, we have not found an increasing convergence amongst the various macro-level contexts which we have examined. In fact, each dimension of the political context shows wide cross-national variations that could hardly be ignored. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- The analysis of unemployment regulations shows relevant differences between highly inclusive contexts, such as France and Sweden and highly exclusive contexts such as Poland and Italy (with Switzerland and Germany providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of labour market regulations shows relevant differences between flexible contexts such as Switzerland and Sweden and rigid contexts such as Italy (with Poland, Germany and France providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of the general political opportunity structure shows relevant variations between high openness for Switzerland and high closure for France, Sweden and Poland (with Italy and Germany providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of unemployment-specific opportunities shows variations between high openness for Switzerland and Germany and high closure for Italy (with France, Sweden and Poland providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of opportunities in related issue-fields shows an important distinction between Sweden, France and Germany on the one hand (open) and Switzerland, Italy and Poland on the other hand (closed).
Organisational survey
The organisational survey has shown that civil society organisations support the integration of young unemployed and precarious workers in two ways: by fostering individuals' engagement and political or public awareness on specific issues like unemployment; and / or by delivering services related to welfare provisions. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- In all the countries we found a reality where civil society organisations are important vehicles of people integration in case of unemployment and precariousness because they fill different gaps. They provide services that a poorly developed or scarcely funded welfare state do not or cannot provide or, conversely, like in Sweden, they are almost a component of the public welfare state. Furthermore, civil society organisations interact with local governmental levels (only sporadic attention is also given to supranational governmental actors like the European one) to stimulate, via project proposals, policy solutions. Moreover, when we consider the organisations perceptions about the motivations according to which people join them, we see that civil society organisations offer also concrete opportunities for people engagement, so they increase people awareness about their position and role, but they also foster face-to-face interaction in the classical understanding of social capital.
- Furthermore, civil society organisations work for better social cohesion and their work is influenced by their political and institutional embedding, by the local political and cultural tradition, by the type of relations they establish with their institutional counterparts or among themselves. Civil society organisations interact with local governmental levels to stimulate policy solutions via project proposals and even where access to policy making for civil society actors is restrained, their capacity to be active in liaison with local powers make them essential partners for policy change in the field of unemployment and precariousness.
Individual survey
In general, the individual survey shows that long-term unemployed young adults in Europe are not a homogenous group. They differ in a variety of aspects: their socio-demographic background, their attitudes to work, employment and unemployment, their experiences of social and political exclusion vary as well as their experiences of well-being. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- long-term unemployed young adults in Europe are not a homogenous group;
- a paid work is very important for all categories of young people;
- the gender equality concept is not very widespread among young adults when it comes to work and employment;
- long-term unemployed young adults are in a vulnerable situation and run the risk of social exclusion;
- long-term unemployed young adults could rather be described as politically uninterested than politically excluded;
- long-term unemployed young adults are likely to experience low levels of well-being.
Although, these patterns characterise all countries, there are also differences between them that need to be examined on national level.
In-depth qualitative analysis
The analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews conducted according the grounded theory methodology has provided substantial insights into the situation of young long-term unemployed people. It has been mainly focused on the impact of unemployment on social and political exclusion and on the ways young people cope with this situation. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- The most important life problem raised by long-term unemployment are financial shortages. However, their scope differs.
- Almost all unemployed take advantage of various forms of material help from their families, friends and acquaintances. Not all beneficiaries accept easy this situation. They experience a psychological conflict: being a help receiver for a long time and being unable to pay back.
- Another source of financial support is public institutions of the welfare system. In some countries a substantial support is provided by charitable organisations, mainly connected with the Catholic Church. Some unemployed, however, feel uncomfortable (and even ashamed) of being dependent on the welfare system due to the lack of financial autonomy.
- Most of the unemployed more or less actively search for a job, looking for job announcements in newspapers, on internet or in unemployment offices. Those who are more pro-active make phone calls, visit the enterprises (especially the small ones), enrol in temporary job agencies and online database, making spontaneous offers to work in enterprises seeking employees.
- Friends and relatives are asked for information about job opportunities in their workplaces, which shows that social capital is helpful in attempts to overcome the situation of unemployment. Another form of using social capital is exchange services with friends and relatives.
- A popular way of coping with financial shortages is taking opportunity of different precarious forms of job: temporary, casual, seasonal (often on the grey or black labour market).
- Other coping strategies are: reducing consumption needs, strictly control one's budget, lowering ambitions concerning the type of job, investing in training (either through the unemployment office or at one's own cost) or other ways of acquiring higher education, and going abroad for a job.
- Long-term unemployment has a rather limited and not systematic impact on social exclusion. Some unemployed experience a reduction of social contacts through lack of money and a resulting loosening of social networks. On the other hand, especially in some countries, family and friend ties seem to be based much more on cultural and habitual patterns.
- Young unemployed are very diversified in terms of their interest and participation in politics. In the majority of countries, the interest in politics varies from complete indifference to great involvement. Qualifying this lack of interest in politics as a form of political exclusion may depend on more detailed analyses of its roots and background.
EU-level analysis
The analysis of EU policies in the field of youth unemployment has provided insights into the relevant policy agendas, initiatives and recommendations of European institutions. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- Considerable progress has been made in identifying youth unemployment as an important policy target.
- EU initiatives have developed a proactive approach in regard to education and employment, yet, they need to be developed in relation to job and social security.
- Several processes of European policy coordination have been launched, yet, more coordination of these processes is necessary.
- European policy coordination is well accepted, yet, its effectiveness needs to be improved.
- Conflicts of interest hinder the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive European policy on youth unemployment.
- Civil society organisations are part of issue-specific consultations and deliberations, yet, they need to be involved in a more generalised and structured manner.
List of websites:
Project website: http://www.younex.unige.ch
Project email address: younex@unige.ch
Coordinator's email address: marco.giugni@unige.ch
The institutional analysis has shown that political opportunities for precarious and unemployed youth do not fit with a post-national model of politics. In other words, we have not found an increasing convergence amongst the various macro-level contexts which we have examined. In fact, each dimension of the political context shows wide cross-national variations that could hardly be ignored.
The organisational survey has shown that civil society organisations support the integration of young unemployed and precarious workers in two ways: by fostering individuals' engagement and political or public awareness on specific issues like unemployment; and / or by delivering services related to welfare provisions.
In general, the individual survey shows that long-term unemployed young adults in Europe are not a homogenous group. They differ in a variety of aspects: their socio-demographic background, their attitudes to work, employment and unemployment, their experiences of social and political exclusion vary, as well as their experiences of well-being.
The analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews conducted according the grounded theory methodology has provided substantial insights into the situation of young long-term unemployed people. It has been mainly focused on the impact of unemployment on social and political exclusion and on the ways young people cope with this situation.
The analysis of European Union (EU) policies in the field of youth unemployment has provided insights into the relevant policy agendas, initiatives and recommendations of European institutions.
The discussion groups have shown that each national and even local situation has its own specificities. Indeed, one of the main results of this work package (WP) lies in stressing how policies and measures aimed at fighting unemployment and its negative consequences at the social as well as political level need to take into account the specific context in which those policies and measures are to be implemented.
Project context and objectives:
YOUNEX aims to provide new knowledge on the causes, processes, and perspectives for change related to social and political exclusion of unemployed youth. It will provide an integrated approach to the study of unemployment effects on youth exclusion from social and political spheres.
The project has three main objectives:
- The first objective is to generate a new body of data on the personal life of young unemployed and precarious youth by focusing on: their perception of their situation, their life projects, their identity development, the intensity and quality of their social relations, their political participation and their attitudes toward political institutions and society at large.
- The second objective is to advance theory and extend knowledge on social and political exclusion of young unemployed and precarious youth. We aim to understand better whether unemployment and precariousness necessarily leads to the marginalisation or exclusion of young people from social and political life. We assume that exclusion is the outcome of the interplay between situational characteristics of youth, the particular structure of local civil societies, and public institutions and policies.
- The third objective is to provide practical insights into the potential paths for social and political integration of young unemployed and precarious youth. These findings could be used both by public authorities and non-state welfare organisations to improve youth inclusion in social and political life.
The overall design of the research has three main components:
- A multidimensional theoretical framework that integrates different explanatory factors (public policies and institutions, organised civil society and the situation of individual unemployment) while taking into account various dimensions of exclusion (political exclusion, social exclusion and individual well-being).
- A cross-national comparative design that includes six European cities in countries with different institutional approaches to unemployment: Geneva (Switzerland), Cologne (Germany), Turin (Italy), Lyon (France), Karlstad (Sweden), and Kielce (Poland).
- An integrated methodological approach based on multiple sources and methods, both quantitative and qualitative.
Project Results:
Institutional analysis
The institutional analysis has shown that political opportunities for precarious and unemployed youth do not fit with a post-national model of politics. In other words, we have not found an increasing convergence amongst the various macro-level contexts which we have examined. In fact, each dimension of the political context shows wide cross-national variations that could hardly be ignored. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- The analysis of unemployment regulations shows relevant differences between highly inclusive contexts, such as France and Sweden and highly exclusive contexts such as Poland and Italy (with Switzerland and Germany providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of labour market regulations shows relevant differences between flexible contexts such as Switzerland and Sweden and rigid contexts such as Italy (with Poland, Germany and France providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of the general political opportunity structure shows relevant variations between high openness for Switzerland and high closure for France, Sweden and Poland (with Italy and Germany providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of unemployment-specific opportunities shows variations between high openness for Switzerland and Germany and high closure for Italy (with France, Sweden and Poland providing an intermediate situation).
- The analysis of opportunities in related issue-fields shows an important distinction between Sweden, France and Germany on the one hand (open) and Switzerland, Italy and Poland on the other hand (closed).
Organisational survey
The organisational survey has shown that civil society organisations support the integration of young unemployed and precarious workers in two ways: by fostering individuals' engagement and political or public awareness on specific issues like unemployment; and / or by delivering services related to welfare provisions. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- In all the countries we found a reality where civil society organisations are important vehicles of people integration in case of unemployment and precariousness because they fill different gaps. They provide services that a poorly developed or scarcely funded welfare state do not or cannot provide or, conversely, like in Sweden, they are almost a component of the public welfare state. Furthermore, civil society organisations interact with local governmental levels (only sporadic attention is also given to supranational governmental actors like the European one) to stimulate, via project proposals, policy solutions. Moreover, when we consider the organisations perceptions about the motivations according to which people join them, we see that civil society organisations offer also concrete opportunities for people engagement, so they increase people awareness about their position and role, but they also foster face-to-face interaction in the classical understanding of social capital.
- Furthermore, civil society organisations work for better social cohesion and their work is influenced by their political and institutional embedding, by the local political and cultural tradition, by the type of relations they establish with their institutional counterparts or among themselves. Civil society organisations interact with local governmental levels to stimulate policy solutions via project proposals and even where access to policy making for civil society actors is restrained, their capacity to be active in liaison with local powers make them essential partners for policy change in the field of unemployment and precariousness.
Individual survey
In general, the individual survey shows that long-term unemployed young adults in Europe are not a homogenous group. They differ in a variety of aspects: their socio-demographic background, their attitudes to work, employment and unemployment, their experiences of social and political exclusion vary as well as their experiences of well-being. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- long-term unemployed young adults in Europe are not a homogenous group;
- a paid work is very important for all categories of young people;
- the gender equality concept is not very widespread among young adults when it comes to work and employment;
- long-term unemployed young adults are in a vulnerable situation and run the risk of social exclusion;
- long-term unemployed young adults could rather be described as politically uninterested than politically excluded;
- long-term unemployed young adults are likely to experience low levels of well-being.
Although, these patterns characterise all countries, there are also differences between them that need to be examined on national level.
In-depth qualitative analysis
The analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews conducted according the grounded theory methodology has provided substantial insights into the situation of young long-term unemployed people. It has been mainly focused on the impact of unemployment on social and political exclusion and on the ways young people cope with this situation. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- The most important life problem raised by long-term unemployment are financial shortages. However, their scope differs.
- Almost all unemployed take advantage of various forms of material help from their families, friends and acquaintances. Not all beneficiaries accept easy this situation. They experience a psychological conflict: being a help receiver for a long time and being unable to pay back.
- Another source of financial support is public institutions of the welfare system. In some countries a substantial support is provided by charitable organisations, mainly connected with the Catholic Church. Some unemployed, however, feel uncomfortable (and even ashamed) of being dependent on the welfare system due to the lack of financial autonomy.
- Most of the unemployed more or less actively search for a job, looking for job announcements in newspapers, on internet or in unemployment offices. Those who are more pro-active make phone calls, visit the enterprises (especially the small ones), enrol in temporary job agencies and online database, making spontaneous offers to work in enterprises seeking employees.
- Friends and relatives are asked for information about job opportunities in their workplaces, which shows that social capital is helpful in attempts to overcome the situation of unemployment. Another form of using social capital is exchange services with friends and relatives.
- A popular way of coping with financial shortages is taking opportunity of different precarious forms of job: temporary, casual, seasonal (often on the grey or black labour market).
- Other coping strategies are: reducing consumption needs, strictly control one's budget, lowering ambitions concerning the type of job, investing in training (either through the unemployment office or at one's own cost) or other ways of acquiring higher education, and going abroad for a job.
- Long-term unemployment has a rather limited and not systematic impact on social exclusion. Some unemployed experience a reduction of social contacts through lack of money and a resulting loosening of social networks. On the other hand, especially in some countries, family and friend ties seem to be based much more on cultural and habitual patterns.
- Young unemployed are very diversified in terms of their interest and participation in politics. In the majority of countries, the interest in politics varies from complete indifference to great involvement. Qualifying this lack of interest in politics as a form of political exclusion may depend on more detailed analyses of its roots and background.
EU-level analysis
The analysis of EU policies in the field of youth unemployment has provided insights into the relevant policy agendas, initiatives and recommendations of European institutions. The main findings can be summarised as follows:
- Considerable progress has been made in identifying youth unemployment as an important policy target.
- EU initiatives have developed a proactive approach in regard to education and employment, yet, they need to be developed in relation to job and social security.
- Several processes of European policy coordination have been launched, yet, more coordination of these processes is necessary.
- European policy coordination is well accepted, yet, its effectiveness needs to be improved.
- Conflicts of interest hinder the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive European policy on youth unemployment.
- Civil society organisations are part of issue-specific consultations and deliberations, yet, they need to be involved in a more generalised and structured manner.
List of websites:
Project website: http://www.younex.unige.ch
Project email address: younex@unige.ch
Coordinator's email address: marco.giugni@unige.ch