Youth in the European Union

European Commission Eurostat

Description

From education to working life
Population and social conditions

Sujets

• Population statistics
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-EUROSTAT
• Nombre de lectures: 5
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Youth in the Européen Union
FROM EDUCATION TO WORKING LIFE
'Δ
eurostat YOUTH IN THE
EUROPEAN UNION
from Education to Working Life
March 1997
<r ύ ύ
■MB Jr
eure »stat Directorate E ­ Director: Lidia Barreiros
" ■ ■ '■' .
■ :,■-.-· ' . ■ ..
Editor­in­Chief:Catherine Blüm
■'■■■ '­. ',.. "" ' .': ■' '
Contributors: Marta Domzalska, Laurent Freysson and the
staff of Directorate E
■ . ■ , ■ ■ 5
' ^ 'V:: :: '' : ' : :
Translation from French: Unit G3, Translation Service,
European Commission
A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet.
It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int)
Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication
Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1997
ISBN 92­828­0438­0
© European Communities, 1997
Reproduction is authorized, provided the source is acknowledged
Printed in Italy
PRINTED ON WHITE CHLORINE­FREE PAPER YOUTH IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
from Education to Working Life
CONTENTS
Preface 1
introduction 3
Education is taking longer 13
A longer transition between education and work 39
Putting off starting a family 61
Living conditions, health, ideals...
... are young adults very different from their elders? 79
Bibliography 105
March 1997 KEY TO TABLES
: Data not available
( )a unreliable because of small sample
More than zero, but highly unreliable
— Not applicable
• Eurostat estimate PREFACE
YOUTH IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
from Education to Working Life
"La jeunesse, ce moment critique, cette orageuse évolution, qui
s'annonce par le murmure des passions naissantes
J.J. Rousseau (Livre IV de l'Emile)
"Youth, that criticai speli, that stormy transition
ushered in by the stirring
of nascente passions... "
J J. Rousseau ("Emile", Vol. IV)
The need for qualifications, rising unemployment, family instability, social exclu­
sion and urban violence are some of the main reasons why the public authorities
are now giving priority status to policies for assisting young people. All industri­
alised countries share this concern.
Youth cannot be defined in terms of specific ages or statutory landmarks,
however. It is merely the transitory age, or age group, between childhood and
adulthood.
Two important points emerge from the following analysis: first, regardless of how
youth is defined, the percentage of "young" people in the population is slowly but
surely falling in every Member State of the European Union. Secondly, the
characteristic stages in the transition from full-time education to employment are
slowing down: young people are staying longer in education, taking more time
to cross over from training to work, and waiting longer before starting families of
their own.
While following this common path, the stages of transition to adulthood tend to
be shaped by national characteristics and policies. Where initial and/or continu­
ing vocational training is well developed, for example, the first contact with the
world of work usually comes well before the age of twenty, and unemployment
amongst the under-25s appears to be less common.
Whether or not it is because people are tending to "stay young" longer, the
lifestyle of those aged20 to 29 tends to reflect that of their parents, either because
they are still living with their parents or, as is often the case in Germany, receive
help from them, or because they tend to stay in the parental home until they have
the means to independence, as in Italy, for example.
Now that the average life expectancy is almost 80, the vast majority of young
people describe themselves as being in "very good" or "good" health. Yet the
changeover to adulthood is often a time of worry, if not despair, as the suicide
rate amongst those aged 15 to 24 testifies.
The high unemployment rates demonstrate that getting a first job is on average
far more difficult for young people now than it was for their parents.
This does not necessarily mean that there is conflict between the generations,
however. Young people interviewed in 1990 about their interests, the causes
they thought worth defending, their main problems and the building of Europe
gave answers that were not substantially different from those of their parents'
generation, except that they were more interested in the environment and less
concerned with politics, whether national or international. \m Introduction
cases they suggest that a certain level of FROM YOUNGSTER TO YOUNG
maturity has been reached. ADULT
The Europe of Fifteen is by no means homo­Youth cannot be reassuringly reduced to a
geneous in this respect. The age at which civil status. The age of majority, the end of
compulsory schooling ends ranges f rom 14 compulsory education and so on are impor­
to 16 years. In Belgium, Germany, the tant factors, but they are not all­important.
Netherlands and Austria it is 18 years if part­Youth is the period of transition from chil­
time schooling is taken into account. Com­dhood to adulthood.
pulsory g may begin before the age
of 6 (Figure 1).
Statutory age limits Young people in the Europe of Fifteen attain
the right to vote at 18. However, the age of
The legal milestones ­ the attainment of vo­
entitlement to stand for election varies be­
ting rights, the end of compulsory schooling
tween 18 and 25, depending on the country
and so on ­ reflect the socio­economic history
and the type of election (national, regional
of the Member State concerned, but in all
etc.).
Figure 1
Duration of compulsory schooling
1995
H part­time
■ full­time
ι­Γ371
­+­
DK EL E(1) IRL l(2) NL P(1) FIN UK(3)
' Post­reform
2 Draft legislation raising the end of compulsory education to 16 years is under discussion
3 Northern Ireland: 4­16
Source: "Education across the European Union ­ Statistics and indicators" ­ Eurostat 1996 Introduction ¡m
The age at which family benefits cease to search In Europe most of the stages of this
transition have been slowing down; above all, be paid ranges from 16 (Ireland, Portugal) to
the cross-over from one status to another is 19 (Austria); usually it is 18, as in Italy, for
no longer as clear-cut as it used to be. Young example.
people are staying longer in education, for
With a few exceptions, further education or
example, and the boundary between educa­
training confers the right to benefits even up
tion and employment is becoming blurred.
to the age of 27 (Germany, Austria, Luxem­
Consequently, the ages considered to define
bourg). It is difficult to itemise these excep­
the beginning and end of youth are increa­
tions, since further benefits may be paid in a
sing: research confirms that those aged 15 to
different form1.
24 are now most often regarded as "young
people". From childhood to adulthood: a lon­
ger transition The range is widening, however: France and
Sweden, for example, set the limits at 15 and
Broadly speaking, the change-over from chil­
29. The upper limit for the pursuit of higher
dhood to adulthood in an industrialised coun­
education is often regarded as 30 years.
try is marked by four major events: leaving the
parental home, finishing school or college, Two observations confirm that the time of life
getting a job and forming a couple. These referred to as "youth" is expanding: it is no
events are shaped by the history, culture and longer unusual still to be studying after the
socio-economic environment of the country age of 20, for example, and young people in
concerned and it is therefore very difficult to general are tending to stay in the parental
pinpoint specific ages as landmarks in the home longer than they did ten years ago.
process. Moreover, according to recent re­
' See Social Protection in the Member States of the European Union - Situation at 1 July 1995 and evolution Missoc, Brussels,
DGV
2 See contributions made at the meeting of the Sienna Group in Oslo, 1995