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Subjective Well‐Being of NEETs and Employability: A Study of Non‐Urban Youths in Spain, Italy, and Portugal
Subjective well-being is of paramount importance when support is offered to young individuals seeking employment and social inclusion in general. The present study looks at different dimensions of youth well-being and the growing demands for skills to enable labour market integration. Based on survey data, this article examines the relationships between the role of public employment services in providing support and their impact on the subjective well-being of youth. Specifically, 1,275 not in education, employment, or training (NEET) rural youths from Italy, Portugal, and Spain participated in the survey. Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, the current study sets up a model which includes different factors at the micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-system levels. The results show that non-urban NEETs’ subjective well-being is associated positively with public employment services availability, while the relationship with public employment services interaction and public employment services support is non-significant. A positive and significant relationship emerged also with self-efficacy and social support. Some recommendations for policymakers are discussed.
Journal Article
Public Employment Services and Vulnerable Youth in the EU: The Case of Rural NEETs
The Covid-19 pandemic created unprecedented pressure to accelerate public employment services (PES) digitalisation across Europe. In fact, there is now a considerable amount of funding dedicated to that goal in broadband policy packages, such as the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. This pressure for digitalizing PES presumes that its benefits outweigh the existing risks, regardless of citizens’ singularities, such as vulnerable young people going through the school-to-work transition. Bearing that in mind, and following a bioecological model framework, our article addresses two main goals. Firstly, based on a targeted literature review, we detail the challenges and possibilities posed by PES digitalisation for vulnerable young people in EU countries, which have been widely overlooked in the literature. We specifically argue that despite several practical advantages (e.g., releasing staff from time-consuming administrative tasks), PES digitalisation will only be beneficial for vulnerable young people if three interrelated challenges are taken into account: nurturing trust in institutions and digital tools, supporting digital transformation of PES institutional organization, and adopting a co-design lens for PES digitalisation. Secondly, using a knowledge integration approach, we describe a model for assessing PES capacity to digitally support rural young people not in employment, education, or training to enter the labour market. We conclude that the overemphasis on the expected advances of overall PES digitalisation must be followed by thoughtful consideration of PES digitalisation processes to ensure EU social inclusion targets for the younger generations.
Journal Article
Analysis of the Spatial Pattern and Influencing Factors of the Coupled and Coordinated Development of Digital Infrastructure and Public Employment Service Efficiency
Although the role of digital infrastructure as an engine for the sustainable development of public services has been widely investigated, systematic and dynamic analysis of the coupling and coordination mechanisms between digital infrastructure and public employment service efficiency is lacking. On the basis of Chinese provincial panel data from 2012 to 2023, the coupling coordination degree model, Dagum’s Gini coefficient, Markov chain, and Tobit model are used to measure the coupling coordination degree of digital infrastructure and public employment service efficiency, analyze its spatial pattern, and explore its influencing factors. The results of this study reveal that (1) The coupled and coordinated development trend of digital infrastructure and public employment service efficiency has improved from “mild imbalance recession” to “near imbalance recession”. (2) The spatial difference in the coupling coordination degree is characterized by slow expansion but overall stabilization, and the spatial transfer state remains relatively stable. (3) Economic development, industrial structure, trade openness, and technological development increase the coupling coordination degree, whereas urbanization, the urban–rural income gap, and government intervention hinder it. This study not only expands the theoretical boundaries of digital governance research and overcomes the theoretical limitations of traditional public employment service research but also has substantial practical importance for promoting social equity, inclusive growth, and economic sustainability.
Journal Article
Public Employment Services' Responses to the Pandemic: Examples from Portugal, Bulgaria, and Lithuania
The Covid-19 pandemic provoked critical changes to welfare in Europe, requiring the dematerialisation of programmes and services while relying mainly on remote support. This study aims to present insights into how European public employment services have coped and adapted to the pandemic challenges, particularly regarding the digitalisation and delivery of services to young people in rural areas. It focuses on three case studies from distinct European regions: Portugal, Bulgaria, and Lithuania. It is based on an exploratory survey of public employment services national offices and qualitative data collected from public employment services offices in rural settings. It highlights the advantages and dangers of the adoption of digitalisation processes, namely considering literacy and accessibility in diverse contexts. It concludes that despite cultural and regional differences, all three countries evidenced an acceleration in service provision due to digitalisation and were capable of adjusting their practices to remote delivery. However, rural areas faced delays due to poor infrastructure, and after the pandemic, public employment privileged on-site delivery, since it is considered more effective in the training and counselling of young people.
Journal Article
NEETs and Youth Guarantee Registration: Examining the Link to Past Undeclared Work
A myriad of factors influence young people’s vulnerability and the likelihood of becoming NEET. Moreover, the share of young NEETs in European countries is very high. Institutional and governmental initiatives aiming to promote the inclusion of young people in the labour market are of paramount importance. However, the socio-economic conditions and the level of vulnerability alongside other socio-demographic characteristics are likely to influence the extent to which young people ultimately engage with such programmes. The current study ascertains whether previous experience of informal work increases young people’s propensity to participate in programmes offered by public employment services, such as the Youth Guarantee Programme. Indeed, we hypothesise that the experience of working without a contract makes young people more aware and concerned about the risk of remaining trapped in a spiral of vulnerable jobs. To test this, we used data from a survey of 4,273 NEETs and focused on Italy, Portugal, and Spain. The study’s findings contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between past experience in the informal economy and engagement with the Youth Guarantee. Besides contributing to the literature, the study can also contribute to policy making and practitioners’ assessment of the relative efficacy of Youth Guarantee initiatives among different subgroups of young NEET and tailor the interventions accordingly. In other words, the outcomes of this study should signal to governments that greater efforts should be made to implement initiatives reaching out to young people, as well as acting to reduce the precariousness in job contracts, which negatively impacts their quality of life.
Journal Article
An Approximate Overview of How United Kingdom Minimise Unemployment Rate through Public Employment Services: A Lesson South Africa Can Learn From
Both developing and developed countries have the responsibility of providing employment services. In the United Kingdom (UK) the unemployment rate stands at 3.7% which is the lowest among many countries. During quarter 4 of 2023, the statistics show that South Africa stands at 32.1% unemployment rate, which is one of the highest rates. In the UK and South Africa, providing employment services is part of government responsibilities, through Public Employment Services (PES). The main function of PES is to provide employment services and regulate the operation of private employment agencies. The high unemployment rate in South Africa is largely contributing to poverty. This study was conducted mainly to review how the UK minimise the unemployment rate through PES, to provide lessons on how South Africa can improve employment services. The history avers that PES was first introduced in the UK, to assist assisting work-seekers to get employment, and employers to easily locate employees. This study is conceptual in nature and relies on theory building and critical scholarship review as methodological insights to gather data. The study found that PES in South Africa is implemented way differently from the UK. In the UK, PES take full control of employment services and unemployment benefits and operates at a level which is closest to the people. It was recommended that PES in SA needs to be restructured and operate as an interdependent institution reporting directly to the minister of DEL.
Journal Article
Public Employment Agency Reform, Matching Efficiency, and German Unemployment
Our paper analyzes the role of public employment agencies in job matching, in particular the effects of the restructuring of the Federal Employment Agency in Germany (Hartz III labor market reform) for aggregate matching and unemployment. Based on two microeconomic datasets, we show that the market share of the Federal Employment Agency as job intermediary declined after the Hartz reforms. We propose a macroeconomic model of the labor market with a private and a public search channel and fit the model to various dimensions of the data. We show that direct intermediation activities of the Federal Employment Agency did not contribute to the decline in unemployment in Germany. By contrast, improved activation of unemployed workers reduced unemployed by 0.8 percentage points. Through the lens of an aggregate matching function, more activation is associated with a larger matching efficiency.
Journal Article