Transitions from Education to Work in Europe
The Integration of Youth into EU Labour Markets

European unification represents major challenges to national institutional frameworks as well as significant pressures for institutional convergence. So far, labour markets have actually seen relatively little convergence, and national institutions have remained highly distinct. Against this background, the book provides an encompassing comparative analysis of school-to-work transitions in EU member states. It shows how differences in both European education and training systems, as well as labour market institutions, generated significant variation in the experiences of young people entering European labour markets during the 1990s. This book compiles an integrated series of comparative empirical analyses of education-to-work transitions across the EU by drawing on the European Labour Force Surveys. Individual chapters describe the educational background of young people entering the labour market, address the scope of educational expansion in recent decades, and chart basic structures of transition processes in European labour markets. Chapters not only examine the role of education for successful labour market integration, but also the impact of macroeconomic, structural, and institutional factors on young people's chances of avoiding unemployment and attaining employment in occupations appropriate to their education and training. From these analyses it becomes apparent that the structure of education and training systems is the key institutional factor behind successful youth labour market integration. At the level of intermediate skills, dual systems of training have retained their advantages in terms of reduced youth unemployment. High levels of education still constitute a key asset, for, despite significant educational expansion in recent decades, devaluation trends have been limited. As youth labour markets are found to be particularly responsive to macroeconomic conditions, however, macroeconomic stability turns out to be an equally important predicament to successful youth labour market integration, in particular among those with low levels of education.

Walter Muller and Markus Gangl: Preface, 1: Walter Muller and Markus Gangl: The Transition from School to Work: A European Perspective, 2: Walter Muller and Maarten Wolbers: Educational Attainment in the European Union: Recent Trends in Qualification Patterns, 3: Thomas Couppie and Michele Mansuy: Young People and New Entrants in European Labour Markets: The Timing of Gradual Integration, 4: Markus Gangl: The Structure of Labour Market Entry in Europe: A Typological Analysis, 5: Maarten Wolbers: Learning and Working: Double Statuses in Youth Transitions, 6: Markus Gangl: Returns to Education in Context: Individual Education and Transition Outcomes in Euopean Labour Markets, 7: Rolf van der Velden and Maarten Wolbers: The Integration of Young People into the Labour Market: The Role of Training Systems and Labour Market Regulation, 8: Cristina Iannelli and Asuncion Soro-Bonmati: Transition Pathways in Italy and Spain: Different Patterns, Similar Vulnerability?, 9: Markus Gangl: Explaining Change in Early Career Outcomes: Labour Market Conditions, Educational Expansion, and Youth Cohort Sizes, 10: Markus Gangl, Walter Muller, and David Raffe: Conclusions: Explaining Cross-National Differences in School-to-Work Transitions, Markus Gangl: Methodological Index: Using the European Labour Force Survey for Transition Research, Bibliography

Scholars and students of labour economics, the theory of education, and the EU, sociologists in the fields of labour markets and social stratification