Young People in the Labour Market: Past, Present, Future (Youth, Young Adulthood and Society)

Levels of suffering among young people have always been much higher than governments suggest. Indeed, policies aimed at young workers have often been framed in ways that help secure conformity to a new employment landscape in which traditional securities have been progressively removed. Increasingly punitive welfare regimes have resulted in new hardships, especially among young women and those living in depressed labour markets. Framed by the ideas of Norbert Elias, Young People in the Labour Market challenges the idea that changing economic landscapes have given birth to a 'Precariat' and argues that labour insecurity is more deep-rooted and complex than others have suggested. Focusing on young people and the ways in which their working lives have changed between the 1980s recession and the Great Recession of 2008/2009 and its immediate aftermath, the book begins by drawing attention to trends already emerging in the preceding two decades. Drawing on data originally collected during the 1980s recession and comparing it to contemporary data drawn from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, the book explores the ways in which young people have adjusted to the changes, arguing that life satisfaction and optimism are linked to labour market conditions. A timely volume, this book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers who are interested in fields such as Sociology, Social Policy, Management and Youth Studies. Trends in youth employment, unemployment and underemployment remain a major concern for policy makers and academics alike in most industrialised nations. Over the last 40 years, among young people in Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia, there has been a significant increase in poor, non-standard and precarious work and recent increases in underemployment and unemployment. These trends are exacerbated during times of economic recession when the unemployment rate among young people is typically two to three times higher than among older age groups. This book considers labour market trends by offering a detailed examination of the changes in the experiences of young people between the 1980s recession and the global recession starting 2008 Acknowledgements -- Foreword Looking Back In Order To Look Forward / Ken Roberts -- Understanding The Changing Youth Labour Market -- From The Golden Age To Neo-liberalism -- The Great Transformation And The Punitive Turn -- Towards A New Normality : Work And Unemployment In Contemporary Britain -- The Age Of Liminality -- Towards A Post-liminal Labour Market -- Afterword -- Is It Inevitable That Young People Have To Carry These Costs Of Social Change? -- Appendix -- References. Andy Furlong, John Goodwin, Henrietta O'connor, Sarah Hadfield, Stuart Hall, Kevin Lowden And Réka Plugor. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.