Job quality for young people and non-standard forms of employment Mariya Aleksynska Inclusive labour markets, labour relations, and working conditions branch Conditions of Work and Equality Department September 18, 2014 Youth Employment Programme
Introduction • The weakening of the global recovery continues aggravating the youth job crisis • Lack of available new jobs means not only high unemployment and inactivity of youth, but also lower selectivity of youth about the types of jobs they accept • Previous policies (“reforms at the margin”) led to labour market segmentation, which particularly affects youth Youth Employment Programme
Non-standard forms of employment «Non-standard»: «Standard»: Part-time, on-call, Full-time unsocial hours Temporary: FTC, casual, Open-ended project-based, daily Direct TWA, labour brokers Youth Employment Programme
Incidence and trends among youth Fact 1: Young people are over-represented in all forms of NSFE in the majority of European countries Fact 2: The incidence of NSFE among youth is growing and, in some instances, it is growing faster than among other age groups Youth Employment Programme
Employees with part-time jobs by age group as percentage of working population, 2013 25-64 years 15-24 years 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 m c y d n a s a y s d a a n d d y u d n r e i e i n i i n i i n n l a a t n n k u b r n a k a d a p a a a a i p a g a a g u r m o l y l e l l u v e S u o m e r n p l l C e r r w T e o r r h u C e P c e e I o z B l t H S h S I t R i G R L i w t e h S N c e z C Youth Employment Programme
Employees with fixed-term contract by age group as percentage of working population Fixed-term 15-24 years 25-54 years 55-64 years 44.0% 40.0% 36.0% 32.0% 28.0% 24.0% 20.0% 16.0% 12.0% 8.0% 4.0% 0.0% 1995 1997 2002 2005 2007 2010 2012 Youth Employment Programme
Employees with temporary agency contract by age group as percentage of working population Temporary agency 15-24 years 3.50% 3.00% 2.50% 2.00% 1.50% 1.00% 0.50% 0.00% 2007 2010 2012 Youth Employment Programme
Job quality: Definitions European Foundation for Academia the Improvement of Living OECD and Working Conditions All of those + • • Earnings quality Earnings • • LM Security Training • Prospects • • Quality of the Job • Intrinsic characteristics of • Working satisfaction the job environment Psychological • – Time pressure – Interesting / well-being – Physical and challenging healthplace etc • – Degree of autonomy risk – Skill match, etc – Workplace intimidation Work-time quality • Youth Employment Programme
Job quality: Definitions In addition, ILO approach at the macro level • Decent Work Indicators – Informality – Precarious employment (stable employment?) – Time-related underemployment and excessive hours – Working poverty and low-pay rate • Job quality for Millennium Development Goal 1b: – Share of the working poor – Share of workers in vulnerable employment – Labour productivity Youth Employment Programme
Focus on Prospects / Security NSFE may be preferred by some youth, as it can be more easily combined with studying. It can help gaining experience, developing skills, getting attached to the labour market, developing professional network, allowing for softer screening. NSFE can thus become « stepping stones » into regular employment. Youth Employment Programme
Challenges arise when such employment is involuntary … Youth Employment Programme
Involuntary part-time employment as percentage of the total part-time employment, 2013 25-64 years 15-24 years 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 Youth Employment Programme
Trends in youth involuntary part-time employment 90.0 2004 2013 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 Youth Employment Programme
Challenges further arise when transiting into regular employment is compromised … Stepping stones or dead-ends? Ø Look at yearly transitions from NSFE to permanent employment, to unemployment/inactivity, and to other NSFE Ø Look at life-long career path: is there more churning? Youth Employment Programme
Research Findings • Yearly transitions from non-standard to standard employment remain under 55%, and even under 10% in some countries (France, Spain). • “Stepping stone” hypothesis of FTC is confirmed in: Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, the US: a temporary job, rather than unemployment, significantly increases the probability of further obtaining a regular job. – The effect seems to be the strongest for young graduates: these are indeed the workers for whom benefits of having lower initial screening, obtaining general rather than specific work experience, and expanding their network through nonstandard jobs are high. • Caveat: further liberalization of NSFE leads to increased pool of temporary workers and increased churning; temporary work ceases to be a stepping stone (Spain, Japan) • The “stepping stone” hypothesis is not confirmed in case of TWA workers in Sweden, Germany, or specific parts of the US • Everywhere, NSFE workers have a significantly higher rate of transition into unemployment or into inactivity as compared to regular workers. Youth Employment Programme
Policy Challenges: General and Specific • General policies stimulating aggregate demand and job creation • How to improve stepping stone role of NSFE without liberalizing their use further? – Policy reforms to mitigate segmentation: creating incentives to favour transitions from NSFE to regular employment of youth • How to ensure that skills earned in NSFE are transferable? – Invest in education and training to enhance employability and facilitate the school-to-work transition – Apprenticeships as stepping-stones • How to ensure that NSFE are not jobs of inferior quality in other terms? – Ensuring equal treatment of young workers • How to ensure that youth does not carry disproportionate burden of risks? – Innovative approaches to risk-shedding: how to provide social security coverage for workers with very low tenure and contributions Youth Employment Programme
Questions? Youth Employment Programme
For more information 4, route des Morillons CH – 1211 Geneva 22 Tel. : + 41 22 799 70 19 Fax: + 41 22 799 75 62 Email: youth@ilo.org Web: www.ilo.org/yep Follow us on twitter: @ILOyouth Youth Employment Programme
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