Are some sectors more “youth friendly” than others? Employment regimes, sectors, and gender disparities in the Great Recession

Abstract

Despite national differences in youth employment, many countries share striking similarities in the uneven sectoral distribution of job opportunities for young women and men in Europe. A shift-share analysis of European Labour Force data identifies “youth-friendly” sectors, how this varies between countries, and how this changed during the Great Recession. This reveals how youth job opportunities were lost because the sector shrank or because employers were less likely to offer full-time, permanent contracts. New jobs for youth were more likely to be in part-time and temporary employment. Youth vulnerability to unemployment is contingent not only on employers' engagement with institutions shaping school-to-work transitions but also on gender segregation and to the fact that some sectors have been particularly fragile during the economic crisis. Future research needs to link institutional effects with employers' business strategies to understand how these shape job opportunities for young women and men. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Keywords

Author Keywords

Gender youth employment part-time and temporary work sectors shift-share analysis

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, East Sussex, United Kingdom

Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, San Domenico di Fiesole, San Domenico di Fiesole, FI, Italy

Economic and Social Research Institute Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

Funding & Acknowledgements

Seventh Framework Programme, FP7

Funding text 1: This research has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement 613256 for the STYLE project: Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (www.style-research.eu). We appreciate the helpful comments provided from participants at the STYLE workshop held at the Krakow University of Economics in January 2017 and the extensive comments from the reviewers.; Funding text 2: This research has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement 613256 for the STYLE project: Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (www.style\u2010research.eu). We appreciate the helpful comments provided from participants at the STYLE workshop held at the Krakow University of Economics in January 2017 and the extensive comments from the reviewers.

Seventh Framework Programme, FP7

Grant: 613256

Funding text 1: This research has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement 613256 for the STYLE project: Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (www.style-research.eu). We appreciate the helpful comments provided from participants at the STYLE workshop held at the Krakow University of Economics in January 2017 and the extensive comments from the reviewers.; Funding text 2: This research has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development, and demonstration under grant agreement 613256 for the STYLE project: Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe (www.style\u2010research.eu). We appreciate the helpful comments provided from participants at the STYLE workshop held at the Krakow University of Economics in January 2017 and the extensive comments from the reviewers.

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Are some sectors more “youth friendly” than others? Employment regimes, sectors, and gender disparities in the Great Recession

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