Young People and the Labor Market: Challenges and Opportunities

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit an article on the topic of “Young People and the Labor Market: Challenges and Opportunities”. This topic has become more relevant with regard to the COVID-19 crisis, both during the crisis itself and in view of the new features of the post-crisis economy (as we describe below). However, even before this crisis, the topic was crucial.

As a matter of fact, the position of young people in the labor market in unsatisfactory in most countries worldwide, as shown by the generally worse labor market indices (high unemployment and NEET rates, low activity and employment rates), as well as by the often-precarious job positions, frequently in low-paid and poorly qualified occupations. In some countries, this disappointing performance even concerns skilled and highly educated young people.

A key reason for this bad situation is the “experience gap” that habitually harms young workers. In many countries, there is also a lack of efficient public institutions supporting the “school-to-work” transition. For these reasons, in most countries, unemployment rates are two to three times higher in young people than in the total population; the unacceptable high NEET rates led some scholars to conjecture the risk of a “lost generation”. Moreover, young workers are more sensible to the business cycle and to macroeconomic shocks: for example, after a recession, the increase in the youth unemployment rates is particularly large and persistent.

The COVID-19 crisis affected young people in at least three ways: (i) the halt of new hires (that normally regard young people) in most economic sectors, especially in 2020; (ii) institutional reasons (young workers hold temporary contracts and thus are more easily fired); and (iii) sectoral specialization (young people are particularly present in sectors such as hotels and restaurants, services, tourism, retail trade, etc., which were indistries particularly affected by the crisis).

Nevertheless, the post-COVID world economy has some features that could help the inclusion of young people in the labor market, with the most important feature being the durable digitalization of many activities. In any case, the pandemic is likely to bear permanent effects on the modes of productions, work methods, consumer habits, and lifestyles. These developments can represent an opportunity for young people if public policies will help in favoring a smooth transition from schools and universities to the labor market.

This Special Issue aims to identify and systematize four broad issues: (i) an updated comparison of the current situation of young people in the labor market, collecting evidence from many countries; (ii) the general and persistent reasons for the greater difficulties of young people in the labor market; (iii) the characteristics of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on youth unemployment and on young workers; (iv) the opportunities possibly accruing for young people in the new economy characterizing the post-COVID world.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: (i) investigations regarding the situation of young people (unemployment, type of jobs, characteristics of the transition from school to work, etc.) in the labor market, either in individual countries or in an international comparative analysis; (ii) study of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis; (iii) analysis of the evolving situation—after the pandemic shock—in industries and occupations and their impact on the employment of young workers.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Enrico Marelli
Prof. Dr. Marcello Signorelli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• young people
• youth unemployment
• precarious jobs
• school-to-work transition
• NEET
• COVID-19 impact
• new jobs
• digital economy