The proportion of NEET out of the total population in the 15 to 24 age group gives an overall measure of the share of youth that are left behind (see Table 4). Quintini et al. (2006) show that a majority of youth in NEET only stay transitorily in that situation (as the turnover of youth in NEET tends to be considerably higher than for adults), although there is evidence that, in several EU Member States, a small share of young people may remain in that situation for too long, suggesting the existence of a group of disadvantaged young people who are difficult to mobilise into work. The authors also find evidence that early school leavers are disproportionately likely to be recorded as unemployed or NEET.
Evidence from the LFS anonymised microdata set for 2007 suggests that NEET rates vary considerably across Member States (see Table 4 and Chart 19 to Chart 21). In most Member States, a higher proportion of youth in NEET status are reported as inactive rather than unemployed (Chart 19).
In most Member States, the proportion of young women in NEET status is slightly higher than that of men (Chart 20). The breakdown of NEET by education level shows considerable variation across countries. In some MS (Denmark, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and UK), young people with higher education levels have lower NEET rates, while in others (Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Finland) there is a higher NEET incidence for youth with tertiary education (Chart 21). The latter might be related to the problem of under-utilisation of skills, which arises when young people are called upon to perform tasks which require fewer or lower skills that they had acquired in initial education. There is evidence suggesting that the incidence of under-utilisation of skills has increased in a majority of countries for which estimates are available (Quintini et al., 2006).
LFS micro data was used to create a synthetic cohort of people aged between 18 and 24 in 2004, which was then followed up during the period 2005 to 2007 in order to monitor the incidence of NEET. NEET status tends to be highly persistent (Table 5, upper panel), but the decline observed between 2004 and 2007 is statistically significant (Table 5, lower panel).(28)
DG Research is carrying out a research project on youth at risk of exclusion, namely the YOUNEX (“Youth, Unemployment and Exclusion in Europe”) project. It aims to investigate the effects of youth unemployment and precariousness on social and political integration/exclusion, covering 6 European cities in 5 Member States (France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden) plus Switzerland. This project looks at policy, institutional and societal factors which may affect integration/exclusion. Among the tentative conclusions reached so far, it is worth mentioning the following:
(1) | For details see the project’s website (http://www.younex.unige.ch). It was launched on 1/05/2008 and is due to be completed on 30/04/2011. |
Given the increasing role played by temporary and part-time jobs as entry modes into employment, there are policy concerns about the possibility for young people to progressively move into more stable and well paid jobs, using temporary or low-paid jobs as stepping stones.
As far as pay is concerned, young people who have limited previous work experience, or none at all, are more likely to receive low wages. Low pay (29) is a rather common feature of jobs performed by young people. Using ECHP (30) data between 1995 and 2001, Quintini and Martin (2006) found that the incidence of low pay among young workers tends to decrease over time and exit rates from low pay are relatively high, and higher than exit rates from non-employment, supporting the argument that it is better (for career progression) to be working in a lowpaid job than to have no job at all. (31)
Even in the absence of labour market segmentation, school-to-work transitions can involve significant challenges, mainly reflecting the way fluctuations in economic activity have an amplified impact on youth labour market outcomes (see 8.2), and the negative and lasting effects that spells of unemployment at early ages have on future employment and wage prospects (see 5.3).
(28) | The number of observations refers to the number of group averages considered. Three breakdown variables were used: for country, gender and education. |
(29) | Defined as an hourly wage lower than 2/3 of the median wage. |
(30) | European Community Household Panel. |
(31) | Quintini and Martin (2006) present evidence suggesting that low-pay traps for youth (i.e. persons spending 2 to 3 years in low-paid jobs while working for 5 years) are less likely than NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) traps. |