Young Workers, Globalization And The Labor Market

Underpinned by the fact that the globalization process and the subsequent increased level of market uncertainty have paved the way for employment flexibility in modern societies, this book examines the labor market chances of young adults in the US and in ten European societies over the past three decades. As young adults represent a very vulnerable labor market group, flexible and insecure employment tends to be pronounced especially at labor market entry. The contributors therefore explore which groups of young adults are especially affected by increasing employment insecurities.

Extending analysis to the early career phase, the book discusses whether flexible employment relationships in younger cohorts are a temporary phenomenon at the very beginning of people’s careers, or if the labor markets of modern societies are currently fundamentally changing because flexible employment relationships are permanently succeeding in the labor market with the entry of new cohorts.

Discussing the development of social inequality structures in an era of globalization, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers focusing on international comparative research, globalization, labor markets, and social inequality.

Contents:

Preface

Foreword

PART I: INTRODUCTION
1. Struggling to Become an Insider: Does Increasing Flexibility at
Labor Market Entry Affect Early Careers? A Theoretical Framework
Erzsébet Bukodi, Ellen Ebralidze, Paul Schmelzer and Hans-Peter
Blossfeld

2. Youth Unemployment in Western Europe: The Effects of Individual,
Market, and Institutional Factors
Katrin Golsch

PART II: COUNTRY-SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS
3. A New Mobility Regime in Germany? Young People’s Labor Market
Entry and Phase of Establishment Since the Mid-1980s
Sandra Buchholz and Karin Kurz

4. Increasing Labor Market Instability Among Young People? Labor
Market Entry and Early Career Development Among School-Leavers
in the Netherlands Since the Mid-1980s
Maarten H.J. Wolbers

5. Increasing Employment Instability in France? Young People’s Labor
Market Entry and Early Careers Since the 1990s
Simone Zdrojewski, Yvette Grelet and Louis-André Vallet

6. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor
Market Entries and Early Careers in Spain Since the Mid-1970s
Juan I. Martínez-Pastor, Fabrizio Bernardi and Luis Garrido

7. Flexibilizing the Italian Labor Market: Unanticipated Consequences
of Partial and Targeted Labor Market Deregulation
Paolo Barbieri and Stefani Scherer

8. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor Market Entries and Early Careers in Great Britain Since the 1980s
Paul Schmelzer

9. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor Market Entries and Early Careers in the United States of
America, 1984–2002
Ilona Relikowski, Markus Zielonka and Heather Hofmeister

10. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor
Market Entries and Early Careers in Sweden 1980–2000
Karin Halldén and Martin Hällsten

11. Weaker Entries – Lower Risk of Unemployment: Labor Market Entry Trends in Denmark between 1981 and 2003
Ellen Ebralidze and Søren Leth-Sørensen

12. Increasing Labor Market Insecurities Among Young People? Labor Market Entry Process in Hungary Since the Early 1980s
Erzsébet Bukodi

13. Changing Mobility Regime in Estonia? Young People’s Labor Market
Entry and Early Careers Since the 1980s
Kadri Täht, Ellu Saar and Marge Unt

PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
14. Young People’s Employment Chances on Flexible Labor Markets:
A Comparison of Changes in Eleven Modern Societies
Karin Kurz, Sandra Buchholz, Paul Schmelzer and Hans-Peter
Blossfeld

Index