Education and Unemployment Risks among Market Entrants

Abstract

In many European societies, high levels of youth unemployment are perceived as a major social problem. Since the late 1970s, a significant proportion of young people has come to face considerable difficulties to enter the labour market and extended periods of job instability (e.g. Ashton and Sung 1992; Büchtemann et al. 1994; Bynner and Roberts 1991; Evans and Heinz 1994; Franz et al. 2000; Goux and Maurin 1998; Heath and Cheung 1998; Helberger et al. 1994; Müller et al. 1998; Winkelmann 1996).Yet, youth unemployment rates have varied greatly cross-nationally over the past decades. Countries like Germany, Denmark or Austria seem to perform well above the EU average in terms of youth unemployment. One reason behind this relatively favourable performance of these countries might actually lie in the peculiar structure of education and training systems in these countries: much comparative research points out that large-scale vocational training systems are associated with smoother transition processes into working life (Müller and Shavit 1998; OECD 1996, 1998). Besides, individual training investments are still considered the best means to avoid transition problems for young people (Béduwé and Espinasse 1995; Benoit-Guilbot 1995).