The making of the 'precariat': unemployment, insecurity and work-poor young adults in harsh economic conditions.

这项研究的主要目标是对现有的青年就业数据进行分析，以回答研究问题：“在英国经济不稳定的两个关键时期之间，失业、不安全和脆弱的18-25岁青年的经历发生了哪些变化？'.这是一项及时的研究，因为现在的青年失业率高于20世纪80年代经济衰退以来的任何时候。青年人的脆弱性并不是一个新现象：在1980年代，青年失业是令人不安的一个主要原因，导致人们谈论“失落的一代”，并担心失业的经历会给以后的就业生涯留下伤痕。自1980年以来，青年劳动力市场的结构发生了显著变化，许多青年人的经历发生了显著变化。青年劳动力市场的崩溃、国家资格制度的变化以及进入高等教育的青年人数的大幅增加，都对2010年左右从义务教育过渡到劳动力市场的青年人的经历产生了相当大的影响。由于这些变化，人们日益认识到，越来越多的年轻人要么被归类为NEET（未接受教育、就业或培训），要么就业形式不稳定，往往没有受过培训，很容易失去工作，并在一系列质量差的工作之间流动。以前研究从教育到工作过渡过程中遇到的困难的方法侧重于失业的经历，特别是长期失业的经历，而过渡的更大复杂性要求采取新的方法，并表明需要对早期职业生涯中的脆弱性有新的理解。此外，通过当代概念的透镜重新分析旧的数据，可以吸取宝贵的经验教训，而不是抛弃早期产生的知识。因此，本研究的一个主要目的是捕捉青年经历的变化，突出两个不稳定时期的经历，本研究旨在利用收集的数据，对青年人的经验，使从教育过渡到工作在20世纪80年代的经济衰退期间，通过比较这与青年人的数据经历了当前的经济衰退的影响。该研究将基于对三个现有数据集的分析。第一个是ESRC资助的“理解社会”数据。这项研究每年对40 000个家庭中的大约100 000人进行跟踪调查，从这些数据中可以集中注意18-25岁年龄段的个人在劳动力市场的经历。这些年轻人在2009-2011年期间接受了采访，被问及与教育经历、劳动力市场活动和未来计划有关的各种问题。另外两个数据集，这两个都明确侧重于1980年代初的青年就业，也将被使用。第一项研究被称为青年研究，通过1982/83年在四个对比鲜明的劳动力市场对18-25岁的人进行详细访谈收集数据。这四个领域被选为代表一系列就业条件，并导致了1 786名年轻人的样本。第二项研究被称为“青年劳动力市场结构变化研究”（CSYLM），也包括1985年在另外三个截然不同的劳动力市场对854名17岁和18岁的个人进行的详细访谈。这些研究特意涵盖了严重萧条的劳动力市场（例如利物浦和桑德兰）以及仍然相当活跃的地区（例如圣奥尔本斯和切姆斯福德）。

The key objective of this research is to undertake an analysis of existing data on youth employment to answer the research question: 'In what ways have the experiences of unemployed, insecure and vulnerable 18-25 year-olds changed between two key periods of economic instability in the UK?'. This is a timely study as levels of youth unemployment are higher now than at any time since the 1980s recession. The vulnerability of young people is not a new phenomenon: in the 1980s youth unemployment was a major cause of disquiet, leading to talk about a 'lost generation' and concerns that the experience of unemployment would leave scars on later employment careers. Pronounced changes to the structure of the youth labour market have taken place since 1980 and the experience of many young people has changed markedly. The collapse of the youth labour market, changes to the national qualification system and the significant increase in the number of young people entering higher education have all had a considerable impact on young adults' experiences of the transition from compulsory education to the labour market in c2010. As a consequence of these changes there is an increased recognition that a growing number of young people are either classified as NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) or hold insecure forms of employment, often without training, are vulnerable to losing their jobs, and move between a series of poor quality jobs. Whereas earlier approaches to the study of difficulties encountered in the transitions from education to work focused on the experience of unemployment, especially long-term unemployment, the greater complexity of transitions calls for a new approach and suggests the need for fresh understandings of vulnerability in the context of early careers. Moreover, rather than casting aside knowledge produced in earlier periods, valuable lessons can be learnt through re-analysing older data through a contemporary conceptual lens. A key aim of this study, therefore, is to capture changes in the experience of youth, highlighting the experiences in two periods of instability.This study aims to utilise data collected on the experience of young people making the transition from education to work during the 1980s recession by comparing this with data on young people experiencing the impact of the current economic downturn. The research will be based on an analysis of three pre-existing datasets. The first of these is the ESRC funded 'Understanding Society' data. This study follows approximately 100,000 individuals in 40,000 households on an annual basis and from this data it is possible to focus attention on the labour market experiences of those individuals in the age range 18-25. These young people, who were interviewed between 2009-2011 were asked a variety of questions relating to educational experiences, labour market activity and plans for the future. Two other datasets, both of which focus explicitly on youth employment in the early 1980s, will also be used. The first study, referred to as the Young Adults Study (YA), collected data through detailed interviews with 18-25 year-olds in four contrasting labour markets in 1982/83. The four areas were selected to represent a range of employment conditions and resulted in a sample of 1786 young people. The second study, referred to as the Changing Structure of Youth Labour Markets Study (CSYLM), also involved detailed interviews with 854 individuals aged 17 and 18 in 1985 in three other contrasting labour markets. The studies deliberately covered severely depressed labour markets (e.g. Liverpool and Sunderland) as well as areas that remained fairly buoyant (e.g. St Albans and Chelmsford).