Research | Projects

TRUST, IDENTITY AND THE LABOUR MARKET STATUS OF YOUNG PEOPLE

The main questions posed by the research are: 1) Are there major behavioural differences between young people in different labour market states – for example between the unemployed and non-NEET who are not actively searching for work – and what is the role of identity (Locus of control) in determining these? 2) What are the effects of unemployment on trust (social capital) and reciprocity?3) What are the consequences for young people of (prolonged) unemployment in terms of their reduced trust.It is well established that unemployment and non-employment may have lasting consequences in terms of long term wage and employment penalties experienced later on in life (e.g. Gregg, 2001, and Gregg and Tominey, 2005, Cockx and Picchio, 2011). Recent work has also provided evidence that unemployment has consequences in terms of its negative effect on the social capital and trust of young people (Eurofound 2012). Moreover, Fehr et al. (2003) have also examined the impact of individual characteristics on behavioural trust and found negative effects of unemployment on trust and above-all reciprocity in a nationally representative sample of participants in a Trust Game. The task also draws on the analysis of Farina and O’Higgins (2012) which has shown that information on respondents also influences the behaviour of ‘trustors’ in the trust game. Whilst it has been shown that trust is strongly associated with better economic performance of society as a whole (e.g. Coleman, 1990, Putnam, 1993 and Fukuyama 1995), at the individual level, it is also likely to play a causal role in making the re-integration into work, and more generally social participation, more difficult for young people experiencing extended periods of non-employment. The project seeks to throw light on the issue of the longer term difficulties faced by young people who experience unemployment (and ‘involuntary’ non-employment) early in their working lives.More specificaslly, the research will look at:1)How is unemployment distributed amongst young people – going beyond simple incidence and looking at – the probability of becoming unemployed and the probability of remaining unemployed as distinct issues. 2)To what extent are young unemployed people different to young NEET (and not unemployed) people. There has been some work on this on the adult population as a whole; in the literature much attention has been paid to whether the narrow (including the active job search criterion) or the broad (including also those who wish to work but have not actively searched for it in the reference period) ILO definition is a more appropriate basis for defining unemployment. Very little attention has been paid to young people per se, but more importantly the research will go beyond the standard neoclassical labour supply framework within which all of the above cited papers are located and in particular introduce consideraitons of personal identity (Locus of control) into the analysis. 3)What are the consequences and implications of young people of the increasingly drwn aout and uncertain process of labour market entry. There is a substantial body of research looking at the consequences of unemployment for young people’s health and more generally psychological well being. More recently there have been a number of studies looking at the (primarily) psychological consequences of temporary employment. the research will go a little beyond this and start to look at the consequences in terms of social capital (i.e. trust and reciprocity) amongst young people. That is, to look at how young people’s attitudes differ according to their status (unemployed, in education, etc..) as well as the permanence of those states).