Understanding NEETs. Individual and institutional determinants of youth inactivity in France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and the UK

In 2012, no less than 15% of young people aged 15-29 in OECD countries were Not in Employment, Education or Training (so-called "NEETs"). The NEET rate varies markedly between countries. NEETs are an essential problem for European countries.Early-career inactivity turns NEETs into the most likely candidates for long-term socioeconomic marginalization, criminal careers, unwanted pregnancies, and grave mental and physical health problems. Total yearly costs associated with European NEETs surpassed Euros 153 billion in 2011.

Despite this societal urgency, our theoretical understanding of NEETs is still limited. We know too little about whether NEET is a transitory or long-lasting period, about differences in the timing (age) of becoming NEET (15-19, 20-24, and 25-29), and about the heterogeneity of the NEET population. The role of institutional contexts is also still ill-understood.

This project investigates the patterns, causes and consequences of NEET to reveal and understand country similarities and differences. The goal is to provide new theoretical and empirical insights on the temporal patterns of NEET, the impact of individual and institutional characteristics and the interplay between institutions and individual characteristics on young people's transitions into and out of NEET. Our three research questions are:

(1) What are the patterns of NEET? Is NEET long-lasting or just a transitory stage in school-to-work transitions?
(2) What are the causes of NEET? To what extent can (a) individual characteristics, (b) countries' institutions and policies, and (c) their interactions explain the probability that young people 15-29 make transitions into and out of NEET periods?
(3) What are the consequences of being NEET?

To answer these questions, we will undertake an integrated research program that supplements in-depth longitudinal analyses of five country cases (i.e., Germany, France, Japan, the Netherlands, and the UK) with robust cross-national analyses of 24 advanced economies. The country studies enable us to reveal the extent to which specific labour market conditions, educational institutions and policies generate different trajectories into and out of NEET, and understand the relevance of individual and family backgrounds for these trajectories in these institutional contexts. Additional cross-national analyses serve to examine the generalizability of findings from the country studies.

The proposed international project aims to overcome these critical issues with the following innovations:
a) We will advance common theoretical explanations that are adequate for explaining YUP, but which currently fail to explain (certain types) of NEETs.
b) We will use data that allows us to distinguish different NEET categories and/or NEET age groups, and conduct analyses on various assumptions behind the NEET concept.
c) We will analyse NEET as a dynamic process and not a single event, using longitudinal studies and sequence analyses.
d) We will study the interplay of individual and institutional factors, which might affect the incidence and the age-specific risks of NEET periods, as well as the probabilities of short- and long-term durations of NEET-status.

At a European level the EU has labelled the need to focus research attention towards NEETs 'central to the European policy debate'. The EC even declared that reducing the 'astonishingly' high number of NEETs is crucial for EU societies. By better understanding the causes of NEET, the segmentation which exists within the group and the trajectories into and out of NEET, policy initiatives can be tailored to facilitate the prevention of NEET status and the (re)integration of specific subgroups of NEETs into the labour market.

At UK level, all four UK national governments see NEETs as a major social and economic challenge, and as a focus for a wide range of policy interventions (for example, in Scotland around the Developing Scotland's Young Workforce Implementation Plan and in Wales, the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework). Moreover, the study will be of direct relevance to achieving one of ESRC's key areas of activity ('Facilitating partnerships and realising impact') within its strategic plan , given the composition of the research team and the potential impact of the findings on shaping future policy intervention on youth employment/unemployment at national, European and international levels.

By targeting policy-makers from national governments and other actors, the EC and the OECD, the analysis, new understandings and suggestions for policy innovation generated by this project will aid in reducing the tremendous economic and societal costs associated with NEETs.

Beneficiaries include:
(international level)
OECD,
EU and EC,
CEDEFOP,
and ILO,
as well as the governments of the other countries in which this project is operating (Germany, Netherlands, France and Japan);

(UK level)
Cabinet Office,
Department for Business Innovation and Skills,
Department for Education,
Department for Work and Pensions,
JobCentreplus,
Local Enterprise Partnerships
local authorities and their childrens' services and social care departments and the Local Government Association,
Ofsted,
charities (e.g. Child Poverty Action Group, Barnardo's, Save the Children, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Prince's Trust),
philanthrophic organisations (e.g. Ernst and Young Foundation, Impetus - The Private Equity Foundation),
information, advice and guidance/careers organisations,

In addition, as this policy topic is covered by devolution, the national governments of Scotland, Wales and NI and national education and labour market agencies, inspectorate and third sector organisations in those countries.