EXCEPT project has inspired yet another new publication

Sonia Bertolini, Valentina Moiso and Marge Unt have published a chapter titled „Precarious and creative: Youth facing uncertainty in the labour market” in the book „Youth and the Politics of the Present: Coping with Complexity and Ambivalence” edited by Enzo Colombo and Paola Rebughini.

The chapter by EXCEPT researchers investigates the link between uncertainty in the labour market and young adults’ autonomy in Italy and Estonia. It focuses on young adults leaving the parental home and being able to financially provide for their own needs, highlighting the coping strategies youth put in place in different institutional contexts. Evidence from recent research has shown that job insecurity leads to putting off decisions regarding the transition to adult life: postponement of transitions to adult life, non-default transitions order and reversible transitions. Using interviews, the authors highlight the practical sense of individual actors and the rules that inform their actions. In particular, they show the creative solutions that youth put in place in order to face uncertainty in the labour market. Focusing on subjectivity, it is possible to complete the information on the impact of job insecurity on youth life that emerges from previous quantitative studies. The first consequence of job insecurity, which is having an inadequate income, goes hand in hand with loss of sustainability of household expenses, non-payment of fines and other expenses and over-indebtedness.

„Youth and the Politics of the Present“ published by Routledge in year 2019 presents a range of topical sociological investigations into various aspects of the everyday practices of young adults in different European contexts. The book is available for downloading here.