Nezamestnanosť mládeže v strednej a východnej Európe
Youth Unemployment in East-Central Europe

Summary/Abstract: This paper is based on interviews with 800 unemployed young people, 100 from each of two regions, with high and low to medium unemployment respectively, relative to the national averages, in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. The analysis show that up to 1997 most of the young unemployed in East-Central Europe had not become an excluded group. They were drawn from most national, educational, religious and family backgrounds, they shared the normal ways of life of these groups, the majority were in contact with the labour market, pro-reform, and optimistic as regards their own future prospects. The exceptional forbearance of East-Central Europe's young unemployed is explained in terms of many having subsidiary statuses, mainly in education and the second economies, which enable them to feel that they are progressing towards their objectives. Most of the young unemployed regarded themselves as in transition rather than simply unemployed, and preferred to remain in transition rather than settle in the jobs that were immediately available. It was also relevant that the societies themselves were generally regarded as in transition, fostering hopes of better times ahead for all social groups. However, it is argued that the first post-communist generation to experience harsh labour markets is likely to prove exceptional. If their aspirations are not fulfilled in the medium term, if they become long-term unemployed adults rearing a new generation of heavily disadvantaged children, the East-Central European countries are most likely to have then created excluded groups. Furthermore, it is argued that labour market interventions to reduce levels of youth unemployment are most likely to succeed if implemented soon rather than later since over time social divisions are most likely to harden and sub-cultures to polarise.

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