ABSTRACT Comparative research on youth employment has mostly focused on differences between count... more ABSTRACT Comparative research on youth employment has mostly focused on differences between countries or regimes of youth transitions. The territorial differentiation below country level has been less explored, notwithstanding the potential impact on youth-life chances and the territorial cohesion of the European Union. This paper aims at deepening into the investigation of regional variations in patterns of youth labour market chances. To do this, we build on a composite indicator measuring regional youth labour market integration (YLMI) as a comprehensive measure of contextual fragilities (or strengths) of regional youth labour markets. We provide both comparative and longitudinal views over 15 years (2004–18). Furthermore, we explore the impact of contextual factors related to economic conditions, labour market and demographic trends on the regional patterns of youth integration in the labour market.
Major cities are increasingly focused on being competitive on an international scale, developing ... more Major cities are increasingly focused on being competitive on an international scale, developing innovative service sectors and investing in human capital. This has contributed to reshaping local socio-economic systems towards a knowledge economy by strategically fostering key business clusters. But what happens in terms of social inequality in this process? The purpose of this article is to analyse whether issues regarding challenges of social inequality and polarisation are considered in the strategies of urban centres positioning themselves in the global knowledge economy. This leads to a discussion about how the cities’ strategies address potentially growing inequalities, combining goals of competitiveness, internationalisation and social inclusion. The article builds on case studies from Milan in Italy, Vienna in Austria and Aarhus in Denmark. The three cities are all drivers of growth in their respective regions and countries and are embedded in different national welfare regi...
The Cross-national and Cross-regional Report focused on the interplay at macro-, meso- and local ... more The Cross-national and Cross-regional Report focused on the interplay at macro-, meso- and local level between Life Long Learning (LLL) policies, young people's living conditions and country and region specific contexts in promoting or deterring growth and social inclusion. The general objective was collecting and analysing quantitative data on the specific living conditions of young adults in regional contexts, thus considering regional specificities (for instance migration/mobility) in relation to LLL. Data on socioeconomic and socio-demographic context, education/training, labour market, social inclusion and participation, and health and well-being of the young adults was gathered from international, national and local sources.
In our paper, we investigate the role of the media, specifically local television stations, in pr... more In our paper, we investigate the role of the media, specifically local television stations, in producing a shared culture of infancy and adolescence. We pursue this inquiry by analysing the varying representations of the under-aged, disseminated by local TV channels in the Veneto Region. We discuss the ways in which the television stations portray the under-aged, the presence and the role of children and adolescents in the local news and broadcasting, the status accredited to them and their role in the narrations that relate to them. We pursue this inquiry by analysing the varying representations of the under-aged, disseminated by local TV channels in the Veneto Region. The research was conducted within a Convention among the Regional Committee for Communications (Co.Re.Com.) of the Veneto region and the Interdepartmental Centre of Research on the North-East 'Giorgio Lago' of the University of Padua. In greater detail, we monitored the local news and the programmes transmitt...
Although economic disparities among European countries are narrowing again after 2014, unemployme... more Although economic disparities among European countries are narrowing again after 2014, unemployment rates are still above the pre-crisis level and indicate no convergence since 2008.1 This occurs in a context affected by unbalanced migration patterns between rural and urban areas and between economically weak and strong areas, resulting in new socio-spatial configurations of unemployment and poverty2. These two social risks emerge also because of educational deficits, inadequate job training in relation to job market demands and lacking social infrastructure to guarantee a suitable work/family balance. In order to address changing social risks, Social Investment (SI) recently emerged as new policy approach in EU policy making and welfare studies. Following the definition of the European Commission, “Social Investment is about investing in people. It means policies designed to strengthen people’s skills and capacities and support them to participate fully in employment and social lif...
This theoretical paper presents a review of existing literature on the Social Investment (SI) app... more This theoretical paper presents a review of existing literature on the Social Investment (SI) approach to social policy and its underlying and under-explored territorial dimension. The SI approach has been debated and promoted mainly at national and supranational level, while the territorial dimension has been relatively underestimated in the policy as well as in the academic debate. A place-sensitive approach should be included within the analytical framework when addressing the territorial articulation of SI, as territorial-related variables may foster or hinder SI policies. Therefore, we provide a theoretical frame to articulate the territorial dimension of SI, and we discuss relevant points of contact between Social Investment and Territorial Cohesion. First, we provide a critical discussion about Social Investment approach, with the simultaneous aim of highlighting the gaps and the flaws, among which we focus on the territorial dimension of these policies. Second, we argue that...
In the Marche region Youth Guarantee (YG) registered high levels of adhesion by young people as t... more In the Marche region Youth Guarantee (YG) registered high levels of adhesion by young people as the subscription rate has reached almost 100% of the estimated target base. The Marche regional government has preferred not to rise high expectations in a large number of young people, offering only those policy measures that was able to fund. Those who seem to have benefited the most of those policies are young people who were already active in seeking a job and who had more expertise or network resources. These don’t attain strictly to the NEET condition. Internships have resulted in real employment when responded to real training projects shared between the worker and the company, otherwise they often risked to become a way to exploit workers at expenses of public budget. Beneficiaries showed a good opinion of training courses but complained about job offers and skills matching on the local market. Weakness and fragmentation of the supply in labour market make difficult a good plannin...
Lifelong Learning Policies for Young Adults in Europe, 2019
This chapter uses harmonized quantitative regional data on the mediating role of LLL policies in ... more This chapter uses harmonized quantitative regional data on the mediating role of LLL policies in the configuration of individuals living conditions. We focus our attention on four indicators: youth unemployment, tertiary education enrolment, early school leavers and NEET rates. To analyse the determinants of the contextual living conditions we fit persistence models, attempting to explain the status in 2014 with the observed conditions in 2006. We find strong evidence of path dependency. This indicates that the regional contextual living conditions of young adults are overwhelmingly dominated by a combination of the region’s history and developments at the national level. Looking forward, a historically prosperous region in a positive national context is likely to remain so, whilst equally a weak region within a weak national context is likely to remain so. If policy makers are intending to influence the contextual living conditions of young adults, they need to be aware of this inertia. Policies at the national level can be changed and they can be devolved. This could be one way of tackling the inertia, i.e. by providing more policy authority to NUTS-2 regions. Highlighting existing data gaps and improving the availability of territorial information are crucial steps to achieve better targeted policy that isn’t contingent up nation-state-based measures.
Youth (un)employment and differences between countries gained increased attention in Europe. A re... more Youth (un)employment and differences between countries gained increased attention in Europe. A relevant research strand on youth and transitions identifies the existence of different regimes or transition systems, building typologies based on analytical dimensions that refer to institutional traits and outcomes of labour market and education systems. In our contribution, we identify the main dimensions that produce stratified opportunities for youth, looking at existing typologies on school-to-work transition regimes and at the critical debate stressing the limits of such classifications. On the basis on these dimensions, we compare Italy and Austria, analyzing specific traits and recent developments in the transition systems. The two countries show marked differences and also mixed institutional traits. Therefore, the comparison allows us to illustrate our approach, aiming at integrating analytical dimensions not only for classification purposes, but rather to enrich our understanding of the relational dynamic underpinning school-to-work transitions.
This paper analyses the relationship between media consumption and social recognition by illustra... more This paper analyses the relationship between media consumption and social recognition by illustrating the outcomes of a qualitative research study carried out in the Veneto Region (Italy) in 2012. This research regards the fruition, by the youth audience, of the cinematographic product titled Breaking Dawn, Part 2, the last episode of the literary and film saga Twilight. The investigation was divided into two phases: the first phase consisted in 10 participant observation sessions during movie showings; the second phase consisted of 20 in-depth interviews with young men and women from 16 to 25 years old. The analysis focuses on some crucial issues of the relationship between young people and media products, such as emotional involvement while watching a movie, identification processes with the main characters, and gender differences in fruition. As a result, the research shows that seeing the movie led to the majority of the interviewees being involved in an eminently social dimensi...
ABSTRACT Comparative research on youth employment has mostly focused on differences between count... more ABSTRACT Comparative research on youth employment has mostly focused on differences between countries or regimes of youth transitions. The territorial differentiation below country level has been less explored, notwithstanding the potential impact on youth-life chances and the territorial cohesion of the European Union. This paper aims at deepening into the investigation of regional variations in patterns of youth labour market chances. To do this, we build on a composite indicator measuring regional youth labour market integration (YLMI) as a comprehensive measure of contextual fragilities (or strengths) of regional youth labour markets. We provide both comparative and longitudinal views over 15 years (2004–18). Furthermore, we explore the impact of contextual factors related to economic conditions, labour market and demographic trends on the regional patterns of youth integration in the labour market.
Major cities are increasingly focused on being competitive on an international scale, developing ... more Major cities are increasingly focused on being competitive on an international scale, developing innovative service sectors and investing in human capital. This has contributed to reshaping local socio-economic systems towards a knowledge economy by strategically fostering key business clusters. But what happens in terms of social inequality in this process? The purpose of this article is to analyse whether issues regarding challenges of social inequality and polarisation are considered in the strategies of urban centres positioning themselves in the global knowledge economy. This leads to a discussion about how the cities’ strategies address potentially growing inequalities, combining goals of competitiveness, internationalisation and social inclusion. The article builds on case studies from Milan in Italy, Vienna in Austria and Aarhus in Denmark. The three cities are all drivers of growth in their respective regions and countries and are embedded in different national welfare regi...
The Cross-national and Cross-regional Report focused on the interplay at macro-, meso- and local ... more The Cross-national and Cross-regional Report focused on the interplay at macro-, meso- and local level between Life Long Learning (LLL) policies, young people's living conditions and country and region specific contexts in promoting or deterring growth and social inclusion. The general objective was collecting and analysing quantitative data on the specific living conditions of young adults in regional contexts, thus considering regional specificities (for instance migration/mobility) in relation to LLL. Data on socioeconomic and socio-demographic context, education/training, labour market, social inclusion and participation, and health and well-being of the young adults was gathered from international, national and local sources.
In our paper, we investigate the role of the media, specifically local television stations, in pr... more In our paper, we investigate the role of the media, specifically local television stations, in producing a shared culture of infancy and adolescence. We pursue this inquiry by analysing the varying representations of the under-aged, disseminated by local TV channels in the Veneto Region. We discuss the ways in which the television stations portray the under-aged, the presence and the role of children and adolescents in the local news and broadcasting, the status accredited to them and their role in the narrations that relate to them. We pursue this inquiry by analysing the varying representations of the under-aged, disseminated by local TV channels in the Veneto Region. The research was conducted within a Convention among the Regional Committee for Communications (Co.Re.Com.) of the Veneto region and the Interdepartmental Centre of Research on the North-East 'Giorgio Lago' of the University of Padua. In greater detail, we monitored the local news and the programmes transmitt...
Although economic disparities among European countries are narrowing again after 2014, unemployme... more Although economic disparities among European countries are narrowing again after 2014, unemployment rates are still above the pre-crisis level and indicate no convergence since 2008.1 This occurs in a context affected by unbalanced migration patterns between rural and urban areas and between economically weak and strong areas, resulting in new socio-spatial configurations of unemployment and poverty2. These two social risks emerge also because of educational deficits, inadequate job training in relation to job market demands and lacking social infrastructure to guarantee a suitable work/family balance. In order to address changing social risks, Social Investment (SI) recently emerged as new policy approach in EU policy making and welfare studies. Following the definition of the European Commission, “Social Investment is about investing in people. It means policies designed to strengthen people’s skills and capacities and support them to participate fully in employment and social lif...
This theoretical paper presents a review of existing literature on the Social Investment (SI) app... more This theoretical paper presents a review of existing literature on the Social Investment (SI) approach to social policy and its underlying and under-explored territorial dimension. The SI approach has been debated and promoted mainly at national and supranational level, while the territorial dimension has been relatively underestimated in the policy as well as in the academic debate. A place-sensitive approach should be included within the analytical framework when addressing the territorial articulation of SI, as territorial-related variables may foster or hinder SI policies. Therefore, we provide a theoretical frame to articulate the territorial dimension of SI, and we discuss relevant points of contact between Social Investment and Territorial Cohesion. First, we provide a critical discussion about Social Investment approach, with the simultaneous aim of highlighting the gaps and the flaws, among which we focus on the territorial dimension of these policies. Second, we argue that...
In the Marche region Youth Guarantee (YG) registered high levels of adhesion by young people as t... more In the Marche region Youth Guarantee (YG) registered high levels of adhesion by young people as the subscription rate has reached almost 100% of the estimated target base. The Marche regional government has preferred not to rise high expectations in a large number of young people, offering only those policy measures that was able to fund. Those who seem to have benefited the most of those policies are young people who were already active in seeking a job and who had more expertise or network resources. These don’t attain strictly to the NEET condition. Internships have resulted in real employment when responded to real training projects shared between the worker and the company, otherwise they often risked to become a way to exploit workers at expenses of public budget. Beneficiaries showed a good opinion of training courses but complained about job offers and skills matching on the local market. Weakness and fragmentation of the supply in labour market make difficult a good plannin...
Lifelong Learning Policies for Young Adults in Europe, 2019
This chapter uses harmonized quantitative regional data on the mediating role of LLL policies in ... more This chapter uses harmonized quantitative regional data on the mediating role of LLL policies in the configuration of individuals living conditions. We focus our attention on four indicators: youth unemployment, tertiary education enrolment, early school leavers and NEET rates. To analyse the determinants of the contextual living conditions we fit persistence models, attempting to explain the status in 2014 with the observed conditions in 2006. We find strong evidence of path dependency. This indicates that the regional contextual living conditions of young adults are overwhelmingly dominated by a combination of the region’s history and developments at the national level. Looking forward, a historically prosperous region in a positive national context is likely to remain so, whilst equally a weak region within a weak national context is likely to remain so. If policy makers are intending to influence the contextual living conditions of young adults, they need to be aware of this inertia. Policies at the national level can be changed and they can be devolved. This could be one way of tackling the inertia, i.e. by providing more policy authority to NUTS-2 regions. Highlighting existing data gaps and improving the availability of territorial information are crucial steps to achieve better targeted policy that isn’t contingent up nation-state-based measures.
Youth (un)employment and differences between countries gained increased attention in Europe. A re... more Youth (un)employment and differences between countries gained increased attention in Europe. A relevant research strand on youth and transitions identifies the existence of different regimes or transition systems, building typologies based on analytical dimensions that refer to institutional traits and outcomes of labour market and education systems. In our contribution, we identify the main dimensions that produce stratified opportunities for youth, looking at existing typologies on school-to-work transition regimes and at the critical debate stressing the limits of such classifications. On the basis on these dimensions, we compare Italy and Austria, analyzing specific traits and recent developments in the transition systems. The two countries show marked differences and also mixed institutional traits. Therefore, the comparison allows us to illustrate our approach, aiming at integrating analytical dimensions not only for classification purposes, but rather to enrich our understanding of the relational dynamic underpinning school-to-work transitions.
This paper analyses the relationship between media consumption and social recognition by illustra... more This paper analyses the relationship between media consumption and social recognition by illustrating the outcomes of a qualitative research study carried out in the Veneto Region (Italy) in 2012. This research regards the fruition, by the youth audience, of the cinematographic product titled Breaking Dawn, Part 2, the last episode of the literary and film saga Twilight. The investigation was divided into two phases: the first phase consisted in 10 participant observation sessions during movie showings; the second phase consisted of 20 in-depth interviews with young men and women from 16 to 25 years old. The analysis focuses on some crucial issues of the relationship between young people and media products, such as emotional involvement while watching a movie, identification processes with the main characters, and gender differences in fruition. As a result, the research shows that seeing the movie led to the majority of the interviewees being involved in an eminently social dimensi...
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