Validity and Mechanical Turk

Current levels of youth unemployment need to be understood in the context of increased labor market flexibility, an expansion of higher education, youth migration, and family legacies of long-term unemployment. Compared with previous recessions, European-wide policies and investments have significantly increased with attempts to support national policies. By mapping these developments and debates, we illustrate the different factors shaping the future of European labor markets. We argue that understanding youth unemployment requires a holistic approach that combines an analysis of changes in the economic sphere around labor market flexibility, skills attainment, and employer demand, as well as understanding the impact of family legacies affecting increasingly polarized trajectories for young people today. The success of EU policy initiatives and investments will be shaped by the ability of national actors to implement these effectively.

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Five Characteristics of Youth Unemployment in Europe: Flexibility, Education, Migration, Family Legacies, and EU Policy

High and persistent unemployment has been a major blot on the economic and social record of most OECD countries since the early 1970s: the OECD average standardised unemployment rate rose from just over 3 per cent in 1973 to 7.3 per cent in 1997. In response to growing political concerns about the seemingly inexorable rise in unemployment, OECD Ministers gave the Organisation a mandate in 1992 to analyse the causes and consequences of high and persistent unemployment and propose effective remedies to deal with the problem.

What Works Among Active Labour Market Policies: Evidence from OECD Countries' Experiences | Conference – 1998

Researchers are concerned about whether manipulations have the intended effects. Many journals and reviewers view manipulation checks favorably, and they are widely reported in prestigious journals. However, the prototypical manipulation check is a verbal (rather than behavioral) measure that always appears at the same point in the procedure (rather than its order being varied to assess order effects). Embedding such manipulation checks within an experiment comes with problems. While we conceptualize manipulation checks as measures, they can also act as interventions which initiate new processes that would otherwise not occur. The default assumption that manipulation checks do not affect experimental conclusions is unwarranted. They may amplify, undo, or interact with the effects of a manipulation. Further, the use of manipulation checks in mediational analyses does not rule out confounding variables, as any unmeasured variables that correlate with the manipulation check may still drive the relationship. Alternatives such as non-verbal and behavioral measures as manipulation checks and pilot testing are less problematic. Reviewers should view manipulation checks more critically, and authors should explore alternative methods to ensure the effectiveness of manipulations.

/pdf/are-manipulation-checks-necessary-4xmfvkgxqx.pdf

Are Manipulation Checks Necessary

The world economy continues to grow at a disappointing pace, and over 2016 and 2017 it is projected to continue growing well below the levels achieved prior to the onset of the crisis. As a result, global unemployment is expected to increase by nearly 2.3 million in 2016, and by a further 1.1 million in 2017. As in 2015, most of this increase will take place in emerging markets. Job quality is also deteriorating. While there has been a decrease in vulnerable employment and working poverty rates, vulnerable employment still accounts for over 46 per cent of total employment globally, affecting nearly 1.5 billion people. [This report] provides a global overview of these worrying trends, and presents unemployment projections until 2017 by income and regional groups, as well as projections on several dimensions of job quality until 2020. It also examines the major challenges these trends pose in achieving the newly adopted Sustainable Development Agenda.

World employment and social outlook: trends 2016

The Great Recession that has engulfed Europe since 2008 has had a profound impact on the process of young people’s school-to-work (STW) transition Countries’ institutional configurations considerably matter in shaping the structure of young people’s STW transitions and mediating the impact of the Great Recession on youth unemployment Drawing upon Pohl and Walther’s concept of ‘youth transition regime’ (2007), we have assessed the performance of selected EU countries belonging to different clusters regarding the speed, ease and quality of STW transitions Differences in performance across regimes exists, with some faring better than others, although at the same time a common, worrying trend can be identified across clusters, comprising a progressive deterioration of the quality of youth transitions across the board, despite the positive policy intentions to strengthen and improve the efficacy of transition regimes

https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/149160/1/dp10301.pdf

Assessing the Performance of School-to-Work Transition Regimes in the EU

Policy Performance and Evaluation: United Kingdom

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate internships in terms of governance structures. Internships are being promoted as a European Union policy lever to address high youth unemployment. However, concerns exist that internships often have few developmental opportunities and poor employment outcomes, something this conceptual paper examines. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a conceptual framework for distinguishing between different types of internships based on “dimensions of governance” (contract, agreed duration and partnership). A distinction is made between “open market”, “educational” and “active labour market policy” internships, drawing on examples and evidence from Spain and Portugal. Findings – The authors argue that “governed” internships, linked to educational programmes or genuine active labour market policies, are much more likely to have beneficial outcomes than “open market internships”. This is because they provide the positive governance conditions relating to contract, dur...

Kari Hadjivassiliou

Papers

Five Characteristics of Youth Unemployment in Europe: Flexibility, Education, Migration, Family Legacies, and EU Policy

Assessing the Performance of School-to-Work Transition Regimes in the EU

Policy Performance and Evaluation: United Kingdom

Evaluating internships in terms of governance structures: Contract, duration and partnership

Key Indicators and Drivers of Youth Unemployment