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This research project will address the UK's need for robust evidence on the pandemic's consequences for youth employment, learning and wellbeing.
The project will address social inequalities in the pandemic鈥檚 impact, and assess varying prospects for recovery among places, socio-economic groups and jobs.
It will also听examine potential mechanisms to avoid long-term 'scarring' effects for careers and lifetime earnings.听
This research is funded by the听Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),听grant number ES/V01577X/1. The project will听run for 18 months from 5 November 2020 until 5 October听2022.
- Background
Young people's employment prospects are hit hard by the pandemic's unfolding economic consequences. Workers aged 16鈥�24 were more than twice as likely to work in 'lockdown' industries, and about three times more likely to be in potentially precarious employment than workers above 25.
Exiting research shows that up to a third of 18鈥�24-year-olds have already lost their job or have been furloughed. Workers under 30 have also seen their hours cut harder and express higher job听insecurity than prime-aged workers.听
Prolonged and repeated unemployment and situations of not in education, employment, or training (NEET)听can 'scar' youth's future career prospects and earnings. But education, work-related skills training, future planning and active employment support can help to insulate against scaring effects.听
This research will听illuminate what works听to help young people to maintain employment, get back to work, and develop productive skills.
- Aims
Our primary objectives are:
- to develop robust and timely intelligence on youth economic activity, psychosocial wellbeing, skills development and career outlooks
- to provide new evidence on potential pathways to mitigate the long-term scarring effects from the pandemic on youth鈥檚 careers and lifetime earnings听through skill development and career readiness
- to influence public debate through regular publications activities across a range of communications platform to attract media interest
- to develop impact with stakeholders and policymakers to inform and influence policy and practice.听
- Methodology
Using existing and new data, we will:
- examine successful transitions from school into jobs and post-18 education
- investigate the relationship of future optimism and career planning with youth wellbeing
- analyse the consequences of the pandemic on internship provision and training
- track local employment support provision and careers education initiatives.
To contextualise British trends and to explore the potential for policy programmes, we will compare changes in youths' job market transitions and career planning in the UK, with detailed findings for Germany and broader trends in听Canada and Ireland.听
To address our research questions, we will commission a survey of young adults in Britain, conduct interviews with local labour market stakeholders and young people, and analyse a range of secondary quantitative data sources.
- Team
Principal Investigator
- , IOE听
Co-Investigators
- , IAB Institute for Employment Research
- ,听滨翱贰听
- ,听滨翱贰
- ,听滨翱贰
- ,听滨翱贰
International Collaborators
- Rubab Arim, Statistics Canada
- ,听Economic and Social Research Institute
- , ESRI Economic and Social Research
- Evidence and analyses
- . Economic and Social Reports, Vol. 2, no. 3. 24 March 2022
- Frontiers in Public Health. 14 March 2022
- . SSM 鈥撎齈opulation Health. 24 February 2022.
- . Advances in Life Course Research. 13 January 2022
- . The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Inequalities and the Life Course. 31 December 2021.
- . IOE Blog. 16 December 2021.
- . Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. 11 November 2021
- . IZA Discussion Paper. October 2021.
- . J Epidemiol Community Health. 29 Oct 2021
- 听OECD Conference 鈥淒isrupted Futures鈥�. 28 Oct 2021
- . IAB-Forum. 4 Aug 2021
- . IOE Blog. 5 Aug 2021
- (PDF, 0.5MB). YEAH Briefing Paper #2. 22 July 2021
- . IOE Blog. 22 July 2021
- . United Nations Academic Impact Digital Dialogue Series. 15 July 2021
- . IOE Blog. 15 July 2021
- Young people鈥檚 economic activity, training and wellbeing during the Covid crisis. LLAKES-IAB Seminar. 14 July 2021
- Policy Postings: UCL Public Policy Blog. 21 May 2021
- . Structure and Agency in Young People鈥檚 Lives. 13 May 2021
- 听(PDF, 0.8MB). YEAH Briefing Paper #1. 1 April 2021
- . LLAKES Blog. 31 March 2021
- ,听Frontiers in Psychology, 11 Mar听2021
- (YouTube video), Emerging Minds, 3 Mar听2021
- ,听Rural NEET Youth Observatory, 27 Jan 2021
- , IOE blog, 12 Jan 2021
- ,听UCL Centre for Global Youth, 17 Dec 2020
- , Understanding Inequalities, 10 Dec 2020.