Academic literature on the topic 'Age and employment – European Union countries'

The employment level research is an important element of economic analyses supporting the conduct of efficient regional or country policy. Many factors influence the level of this phenomenon, these are demographic, social and economic factors. The employment level can be considered in various categories and the demographic changes encourage to carry out employment analyses by age. Therefore, the subject of the analysis was employment (employment rate) of the European Union countries broken down by age. The main purpose of the article was to show similarities and differences in the level and structure of employment occurring in the European Union countries, and besides, examining the existence of spatial patterns in the period under investigation. To achieve this goal, selected quantitative tools were used, including classic and positional measures of central tendency, indicators of dynamics (average change rate) and measures of interdependence between variables (Pearson's correlation coefficient). In addition, selected spatial autocorrelation measures (global and local Moran's statistic) were used to identify spatial dependences. Data for analyses were taken from the Eurostat database. The results of the research showed the changing employment structure (by age) in the European Union countries and showed the existence of certain spatial dependences, especially in the oldest group of employed persons.

Young adult Europeans today find it more and more difficult to leave their native nest. The article examines the changes in the percentage of nesters over time, considering their gender, age, and the form of professional activity and employment status. The article also measures the phenomenon of nesting using the linear ordering of countries. Eurostat data were used in the work. The period of the study covers the years 2011–2019, while the spatial scope relates to the 28 countries of the European Union. The results show that more and more young adults live with their parents, and the percentage of nesters varies across Europe. Young adults living with their parents are people with a different employment status and professional activity. Those are employed persons working full-time, employed persons working part-time, unemployed persons, students, employees with a permanent job, employees with a temporary job and other persons outside the labor force. We prove that the problem of nesting between European countries was varied. It is noticeable that this phenomenon is intensifying, especially among the unemployed and those without permanent employment.

The European Union has set ambitious aims concernin the employment of older persons. In March 2001 the Stockholm European Council agreed on the aim of increasing the employment rate of the EU population aged 55–64 to 50%. This article uses data from the European Labour Force Survey 2006 to analyse the employment rates of this age group in the EU-15. In most EU countries only highly qualified men aged 55–64 have an employment rate over 50%. The low skilled and women in particular are rarely employed over 55 years of age. The authors conclude that ending early retirement policies is not sufficient to increase their employment rates. Drawing lessons from the EU countries with the highest employment rates for older employees (Sweden and Denmark) they identify five major additional areas of action.

The process of demographic changes in European countries is characterized by greater and greater ageing of the population, as a result of the decline in the rate of natural increase and the rise in life expectancy. Europeans have less and less children, they live longer and face the problems how to ensure a safe old age. Noticed trends of change will be intensified till the middle of the new millennium (2050), when the following situation is expected: the decline in the number of children (0-14 years) for almost 20% and the active-working population (15-64), while there will be more "old persons" (65-79) for more than 44%, and "the oldest" persons (80 or more) for even 180%. Ageing of the population characterizes all regions, but is specially pronounced in the countries in the south and countries in transition. Faced with the challenges of the disturbances in the demographic structure, the members of the European Union (25) developed an entire spectrum of measures and activities to prevent the negative social-economic consequences. Creation of "the policy of ageing" at the Union level develops within the co-ordination (OMC) of the process of modernization of the social security system (old-age pension insurance, health insurance, social and child protection); it also implies the creation of conditions for "the active old age" (increase in employment and staying as long as possible on the job market), the development of "the new forms of solidarity" between generations (as a consequence of the increase of the coefficient of dependency between active working and supported population), preventing poverty and social exclusion, etc. Strategic documents, directions and national action-plans determined the concrete measures needed to face the demographic challenges.

The primary aim of the presented study was to identify how selected factors determining gender-based inequalities affected the volume of the unadjusted pay gap among employees hired in the European Union after the 2007 crisis compared to the pre-crisis situation.An additional purpose of the study was to indicate changes in the employment rates of men and women, as well as changes in the pay gap between the two sexes (measured by means of the gender pay gap index – GPG), which became noticeable in the EU countries after the crisis, as compared to the pre-crisis period. The study was conducted using single-equation descriptive econometric models describing the wage gap. The analysis was based on the results of the Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) and the Labour Force Survey (LFS), both published by Eurostat. Due to data availability issues, data for 2006 were assumed to be representative for the situation prior to the crisis (the study took into account also countries which became member states in later years), while data covering the year 2012 (employment rate) and the years 2014–2018 (GPG) were assumed as representative for the post-crisis period. The analyses of the male and female employment rate and gender pay gaps indicate that following the crisis, the employment in the 24 EU countries became increasingly ‘feminised’, while no significant reduction of the pay gap was observed in the years 2006–2018. The obtained results indicate that greater ‘feminisation’ of employment is connected with greater gender pay gaps. A similar correlation occurs in relation to the professional activisation rate. In addition, significant differences are observed in terms of the impact some of the analysed factors have on the volume of the gender wage gap in different age and occupational groups.

This paper analyses the gender-, age- and educational attainment level-specific output–employment relationship and its dependence on foreign direct investment (FDI). The unbalanced panel covers 25 European Union countries’ data from 2000 to 2020. Empirical estimations are made using the pooled OLS estimator. The impact of FDI on gender-, age- and educational attainment level-specific output–employment elasticities is estimated by including the multiplicative terms between gross domestic product (GDP) and FDI in regression models. The main results indicate the positive impact of economic growth on employment, with the highest output–employment elasticities for males and youth regardless of gender. The estimation results also indicate limited abilities of economic growth to increase the employment of highly educated people and females older than 25 years regardless of their educational attainment level. Our results suggest that higher FDI level in the host countries is mostly associated with the decreasing employment reaction to economic growth. Although FDI is an important factor affecting the output–employment relationship, it does not help to solve the problem of unemployment in the EU, especially for youth.

Using individual-level data from the 2010 wave of the European Working Conditions Survey (ewcs), and country-level data on unemployment, employment protection legislation and union density for 21 European countries, this paper provides a comprehensive multi-level analysis of the determinants of indefinite employment contracts. The authors find that workers’ autonomy on the job, the intensity of computer use, and the presence of general and specific skills are associated with greater contract security. Perhaps more importantly, the authors find a strong negative effect of unemployment, particularly on workers cumulating multiple sources of labor market vulnerability, such as young age, low skill, low autonomy, and immigrant status, especially but not exclusively in the Mediterranean countries most affected by the crisis.

Purpose – the purpose of the article is to identify factors of cultural economics and examine their impact on countries’ competitiveness. Research methodology – in this study, the following factors have been determined to affect the competitiveness of the European Union countries: cultural employment by age (18–65), general government expenditure on cultural services, households expenditure on cultural goods, persons working as creative and performing artists, authors, journalists and linguists engaged in individual activity and employment. Panel data, which are processed with the Gretl software, are used for the study. Findings – the results revealed that all the distinguished factors affect the competitiveness of the European Union countries; however, general government expenditure by function has the most significant effect. Research limitations – the article analyses all countries of the European Union except Romania because there is a lack of statistical data on this country, which interferes with the research. Practical implications – as cultural economics is linked to both the public and private sectors, the revenue and the products it generates undoubtedly contribute to the country’s economic development and, hence, competitiveness. Originality/Value – cultural economics is an interdisciplinary field of scientific research described and analysed by various authors as the interaction of human-made activities with new technologies, various artistic forms, knowledge, and creativity. Consequently, cultural economics has received more and more attention. However, the factors of cultural economics and their impact on a country’s competitiveness level is a fragmentarily examined topic which shows its originality.

ABSTRACTPrevious research unequivocally shows that immigrants are less successful in the labour market than the native-born population. However, little is known about whether ethnic inequality persists after retirement. We use data on 16 Western European countries from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC, 2004–2013) to provide the first comparative study of ethnic inequalities among the population aged 65 and older. We focus on the retirement income gap (RIG) between immigrants from non-European Union countries and relate its magnitude to country differences in welfare state arrangements. Ethnic inequality after retirement is substantial: after adjusting for key characteristics including age, education and occupational status, the average immigrant penalty across the 16 countries is 28 per cent for men and 29 per cent for women. Country-level regressions show that income gaps are smaller in countries where the pension system is more redistributive. We also find that easy access to long-term residence is associated with larger RIGs, at least for men. There is no clear evidence that immigrants’ access to social security programmes, welfare state transfers to working-age households or the strictness of employment protection legislation affect the size of the RIG.

Economic security in its labour dimension is linked to both employment and wages, and ultimately has an impact on the level of well-being of a society. The objective of this study is to determine the differences between the countries of the European Union in relation to the level of economic security, based on the lack of employment or its precariousness and also on insufficient income, considering the unequal impact according to gender, age, educational level, type of contract and working time. The data analysed show that job insecurity generates poverty, challenging one of the key elements for European internal security, namely social inclusion.

L'emploi informel est devenu un sérieux défi pour l'économie ukrainienne et des pays en transition au cours de l'adaptation aux conditions du marché. La tendance du nombre de travailleurs qui participent au secteur informel est en hausse depuis les dernières années. Dans mes recherches, je vais présenter l'état actuel de l'emploi informel en Ukraine et les pays en transition. Une attention particulière est accordée à la répartition du travail entre les différentes catégories de population, en divisant les individus en cinq catégories (employés formels, employés informels, travailleurs indépendants formels, travailleurs indépendants informels et chômeurs) selon la définition de l'emploi informel de l'OIT. Nous examinons le marché du travail en utilisant les données de Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey pour l'Ukraine et Survey on Living and Income Conditions pour les pays en transition et nous élaborons la fonction des gains du capital humain pour le marché du travail en appliquant la fonction de répartition des gains de Mincer, afin d'étudier les facteurs qui déterminent les revenus et le choix de l'emploi de l'individu en Ukraine et les pays en transition
Informal employment became a serious challenge for the Ukrainian economy and economy of transition countries during the adjustment to market conditions. Trends of the number of workers participating in the informal sector have been rising for the last years. In my research I will present the current state of informal employment of Ukraine and transition countries. Detailed attention is paid to labour distribution across different population categories by dividing the individuals into five categories (formal employee, informal employee, formal self-employed, informal self-employed and unemployed) following the definition of informal employment from the ILO. We examine labour market using the data of the Ukrainian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for Ukraine and the Survey on Living and Income Conditions for transition countries and we design human capital earnings function for labour market by applying Mincer earnings distribution function in order to investigate the factors that determine the individual’s earnings and choice of the employment status both for Ukraine and transition countries

Defence date: 14 December 2007
Examining board: Professor Colin Crouch, University of Warwick (EUI Supervisor); Professor Ramón Ramos Torre, Universidad Complutense; Professor Martin Rhodes, University of Denver; Professor Jelle Visser, Universiteit van Amsterdam
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digital archive of EUI PhD theses
A large part of the literature on part-time employment stresses that this form of employment contract is the result of employers’ strategies and female employees who need to reconcile work and family life. However, the growth in the number of employees sharing employment and other paid or unpaid interests expands the range and significance of working-time issues. This dissertation claims that where regulation and implementation of working-time transitions are favourable to part-time employment, part-time is likely to expand to more diverse categories of workers than those for whom it was originally intended ( i.e. mothers with caring responsibilities). The research follows a case-oriented comparative approach that draws on documentary information and a total of 48 in-depth interviews with actors’ representatives at three levels: national, sector (education and local government) and organizational, in the UK, the Netherlands and Spain. Initiated in different moments in time, the regulation of working-time transitions appears to follow a similar staged path in the three countries, although the wider institutional context affecting part-time and the active support of main actors varies for each country, especially at the organizational level. In the Dutch case, part-time regulation started off as a mechanism to enable the employment of women with caring responsibilities and, from there, it evolved towards a wider understanding of workingtime flexibility, extending the right to work part-time to other categories of employees. Given the pioneering role of the Netherlands in this area, it could be argued that both the UK and Spain have been following the Dutch example although with different degrees of success. In the Netherlands, after two decades of active support to part-time, there is still a big gender gap among part-timers, and in many sectors and occupations employees face difficulties to change their working hours; still, the general trend seems to be that access to part-time is becoming easier at more sector and occupational levels, in a context where organizations, already facing short full-time working weeks and high percentages of part-time, have been learning to decouple business hours from the different duration of the employees’ shifts. The need to design clear-cut coordination mechanisms that guarantee the steadiness of the service and the 'standardisation' of handing-over procedures, have helped to accept a variety of working-time arrangements. This capacity to dissociate organisations’ operative time from employees’ working hours is also present in British and Spanish 24-hour services, what has favoured exceptional good part-time jobs. However, the political efforts to promote part-time in Spain and the UK are confronted with serious obstacles, their segmented labour forces among them. The long-hours culture in both Spain and the UK, together with the high proportion of temporary contracts in the Spanish case, are the most visible signs of the structural difficulties these two countries face to achieve working-time flexi-curity. In the three countries, there are no clear links between long hours and productivity levels, and the processess that lead to more transparent assessments of work performance seem to facilitate working-time flexibility beyond standard full-time employment contracts. Certainly, different commitments and compromises need to be achieved between conflicting demands and interests about how employees use their own time, but this thesis argues that part-time may help to soften the conflicts between the specialization and hierarchy requirements of the social division of labour and individuals’ time-use autonomy.

Award date: 1 December 2005
Supervisor: M. A. Moreau
In this thesis I propose to examine the effectiveness of the non-discrimination legislative framework now in place at the European level as a tool for achieving fairness and a decent standard of living for people with disabilities. With this aim in mind, the first section of the thesis will examine what factors led the Union to frame its work in the promotion of disability rights and how current anti-discrimination legislation emerged as a result. Section two goes on to examine the relationship between equality and disability and how the notion of equality can be applied to disability discrimination. Section three is dedicated to an analysis of the Framework Directive and its effectiveness in ensuring protection and rights for people with disabilities in the labour market. Finally section four examines the potential of the most innovative part of the Directive for people with disabilities, the concept of reasonable accommodation, which has been introduced to EU law for the first time by Article 5 of the Directive.

The thesis investigates the role of structural rigidities in recent labour market performances in Europe through various and complementary angles in five essays. By structural rigidities, we mean a lasting feature caused by a set of institutions, which prevents a market from operating efficiently. The approach is essentially empirical and macro-economic, while the scope of the analysis is definitely European, which is technically reflected in the use of either euro area aggregates or panels and cross-sections of European countries.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis focuses on the industry wage differentials, rent-sharing and the gender wage gap. I empirically investigate: i) the interaction between inter-industry wage differentials and the gender wage gap in six European countries, ii) how rent sharing interacts with the gender wage gap in the Belgian private sector and iii) the existence of inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, through the unobserved ability hypothesis.

The first chapter is devoted to the analysis of the interaction between inter-industry wage differentials and the gender wage gap in six European countries, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the U.K. To do so, we have relied on a unique harmonised matched employer-employee data set, the 1995 European Structure of Earnings Survey. As far as we know, this paper is the first to analyse with recent techniques, on a comparable basis, and from a European perspective: i) inter-industry wage differentials by gender, ii) gender wage gaps by industry, and iii) the contribution of industry effects to the overall gender wage gap. It is also one of the few, besides Kahn (1998), to analyse for both sexes the relationship between collective bargaining characteristics and the dispersion of industry wage differentials.

Empirical findings show that, in all countries and for both sexes, wage differentials exist between workers employed in different sectors, even when controlling for working conditions, individual and firm characteristics. We also find that the hierarchy of sectors in terms of wages is quite similar for male and female workers and across countries. Yet, the apparent similarity between male and female industry wage differentials is challenged by standard statistical tests. Indeed, simple t-tests show that between 43 and 71% of the industry wage disparities are significantly different for women and men. Moreover, Chow tests indicate that sectoral wage differentials are significantly different as a group for both sexes in all countries. Regarding the dispersion of the industry wage differentials, we find that results vary for men and women, although not systematically nor substantially. Yet, the dispersion of industry wage differentials fluctuates considerably across countries. It is quite large in Ireland, Italy and the U.K. and relatively moderate in Belgium, Denmark and Spain. For both sexes, results point to the existence of a negative and significant relationship between the degree of centralisation of collective bargaining and the dispersion of industry wage differentials.

Furthermore, independently of the country considered, results show that more than 80% of the gender wage gaps within industries are statistically significant. The average industry gender wage gap ranges between -.18 in the U.K. and -.11 in Belgium. This means that on average women have an inter-industry wage differential of between 18 and 11% below that for men. Yet, correlation coefficients between the industry gender wage gaps across countries are relatively small and often statistically insignificant. This finding suggests that industries with the highest and the lowest gender wage gaps vary substantially across Europe.

Finally, results indicate that the overall gender wage gap, measured as the difference between the mean log wages of male and female workers, fluctuates between .18 in Denmark and .39 in the U.K. In all countries a significant (at the .01 level) part of this gap can be explained by the segregation of women in lower paying industries. Yet, the relative contribution of this factor to the gender wage gap varies substantially among European countries. It is close to zero in Belgium and Denmark, between 7 and 8% in Ireland, Spain and the U.K. and around 16% in Italy. Differences in industry wage premia for male and female workers significantly (at the .05 level) affect the gender wage gap in Denmark and Ireland only. In these countries, gender differences in industry wage differentials account for respectively 14 and 20% of the gender wage gap. To sum up, findings show that combined industry effects explain around 29% of the gender wage gap in Ireland, respectively 14 and 16% in Denmark and Italy, around 7% in the U.K. and almost nothing in Belgium and Spain.

In conclusion, our results emphasize that the magnitude of the gender wage gap as well as its causes vary substantially among the European countries. This suggests that no single policy instrument will be sufficient to tackle gender pay inequalities in Europe. Our findings indicate that policies need to be tailored to the very specific context of the labour market in each country.

The second chapter examines investigates how rent sharing interacts with the gender wage gap in the Belgian private sector. Empirical findings show that individual gross hourly wages are significantly and positively related to firm profits-per-employee even when controlling for group effects in the residuals, individual and firm characteristics, industry wage differentials and endogeneity of profits. Our instrumented wage-profit elasticity is of the magnitude 0.06 and it is not significantly different for men and women. Of the overall gender wage gap (on average women earn 23.7% less than men), results show that around 14% can be explained by the fact that on average women are employed in firms where profits-per-employee are lower. Thus, findings suggest that a substantial part of the gender wage gap is attributable to the segregation of women is less profitable firms.

The third and final chapter contributes to the understanding of inter-industry wage differentials in Belgium, taking advantage of access to a unique matched employer-employee data set covering the period 1995-2002. Findings show the existence of large and persistent wage differentials among workers with the same observed characteristics and working conditions, employed in different sectors. The unobserved ability hypothesis may not be rejected on the basis of Martins’ (2004) methodology. However, its contribution to the observed industry wage differentials appears to be limited. Further results show that ceteris paribus workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in more profitable firms. The instrumented wage-profit elasticity stands at 0.063. This rent-sharing phenomenon accounts for a large fraction of the industry wage differentials. We find indeed that the magnitude, dispersion and significance of industry wage differentials decreases sharply when controlling for profits.

Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The general focus of this thesis is on how the family, work and the welfare system are intertwined. A major determinant is the way responsibilities are shared by the state, the market and civil society in different welfare state regimes. An introductory chapter will therefore be dedicated to the development of the social dimension in the process of European integration. A first chapter will then go deeper into the comparative analysis of welfare state regimes, to comment on the provision of welfare in societies with a different mix of state, market and societal welfare roles and to assess the adequacy of existing typologies as reflections of today’s changed socio-economic, political and gender reality. Although they stand strong on their own, these first two chapters also contribute to contextualising the research subject of the remainder of the thesis: the study and comparison of the differential situation of women and men and of mothers and non-mothers on the labour markets of the EU-15 countries as well as of the role of public policies with respect to the employment penalties faced by women, particularly in the presence of young children. In our analysis, employment penalties are understood in three ways: (i) the difference in full-time equivalent employment rates between mothers and non-mothers, (ii) the wage penalty associated with motherhood, and (iii) the wage gap between part-time and full-time workers, considering men and women separately. Besides from a gender point of view, employment outcomes and public policies are thus assessed comparatively for mothers and non-mothers. Because women choose to take part in paid employment, fertility rates will depend on their possibilities to combine employment and motherhood. As a result, motherhood-induced employment penalties and the role of public policies to tackle them should be given priority attention, not just by scholars, but also by politicians and policy-makers.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In the first chapter of this thesis, we investigate the impact of human capital and wage structure on the gender pay in a panel of European countries using a newly available and appropriate database for cross-country comparisons and a comparable methodology for each country.

Our first question is :What role do certain individual characteristics and choices of working men and women play in shaping the cross-country differences in the gender pay gap? What is the exact size of the gender pay gap using the “more appropriate” database available for our purpose? Giving that there are mainly only two harmonized data-sets for comparing gender pay gap throughout Europe: the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) and the European Structure of Earning Survey (ESES). Each database having its shortages: the main weakness of the ECHP is the lack of perfect reliability of the data in general and of wages in particular. However the main advantage of this database is the panel-data dimension and the information on both households and individuals. The data of the ESES is, on the contrary, of a very high standard but it only covers the private sector and has a cross-sectional dimension. Furthermore only few countries are currently available :Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and Italy.

We use the European Structure of Earning Survey (ESES) to analyse international differences in gender pay gaps in the private sector based on a sample of five European economies: Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Using different methods, we examine how wage structures, differences in the distribution of measured characteristics and occupational segregation contribute to and explain the pattern of international differences. Furthermore, we take account of the fact that indirect discrimination may influence female occupational distributions. We find these latter factors to have a significant impact on gender wage differentials. However, the magnitude of their effect varies across countries.

In the second chapter, we analyse the persistence of the gender pay differentials over time in Europe and better test the productivity hypothesis by taking into account unobserved heterogeneity.

Our second question is :What is the evolution of the pay differential between men and women over a period of time in Europe? And what is the impact of unobserved heterogeneity?

The researcher here provides evidence on the effects of unobserved individual heterogeneity on estimated gender pay differentials. Using the European Community Household Panel (ECHP), we present a cross-country comparison of the evolution of unadjusted and adjusted gender pay gaps using both cross-section and panel-data estimation techniques. The analysed countries differ greatly with respect to labour market legislation, bargaining practices structure of earnings and female employment rates. On adjusting for unobserved heterogeneity, we find a narrowed male-female pay differential, as well as significantly different rates of return on individual characteristics. In particularly, the adjusted wage differential decreases by 7 per cent in Belgium, 14 per cent in Ireland, between 20-30 per cent Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain and of 41 per cent and 54 per cent in the UK and in Denmark respectively.

In the third chapter, we investigate causes of the gender pay gap beyond the gender differences in observed and unobserved productive characteristics or simply the sex. Explanations of the gender pay gap may be the penalty women face for having children. Obviously, the motherhood wage penalty is relevant to larger issues of gender inequality given that most women are mothers and that childrearing remains a women’s affair. Thus, any penalty associated with motherhood but not with fatherhood affects many women and as such contributes to gender inequalities as the gender pay gap. Furthermore, the motherhood wage effect may be different along the wage distribution as women with different earnings may not be equal in recognising opportunities to reconcile their mother’s and earner’s role. This brings us to our third question.

Our third question is :What is the wage effect for mothers of young children in the household? And does it vary along the wage distribution of women?

This chapter provides more insight into the effect of the presence of young children on women’s wages. We use individual data from the ECHP (1996-2001) and both a generalised linear model (GLM) and quantile regression (QR) techniques to estimate the wage penalty/bonus associated with the presence of children under the age of sixteen for mothers in ten EU Member States. We also correct for potential selection bias using the Heckman (1979) correction term in the GLM (at the mean) and a selectivity correction term in the quantile regressions. To distinguish between mothers according to their age at the time of their first birth, wage estimations are carried out, separately, for mothers who had their first child before the age of 25 (‘young mothers’) and mothers who had their first child after the age of 25 (‘old mothers’). Our results suggest that on average young mothers earn less than non-mothers while old mothers obtain a gross wage bonus in all countries. These wage differentials are mainly due to differences in human capital, occupational segregation and, to a lesser extent, sectoral segregation between mothers and non-mothers. This overall impact of labour market segregation, suggests a “crowding” explanation of the family pay gap – pay differential between mothers and non-mothers. Nevertheless, the fact that we still find significant family pay gaps in some countries after we control for all variables of our model suggests that we cannot reject the “taste-based” explanation of the family gap in these countries. Our analysis of the impact of family policies on the family pay gap across countries has shown that parental leave and childcare policies tend to decrease the pay differential between non-mothers and mothers. Cash and tax benefits, on the contrary, tend to widen this pay differential. Sample selection also affects the level of the mother pay gap at the mean and throughout the wage distribution in most countries. Furthermore, we find that in most countries inter-quantile differences in pay between mothers and non-mothers are mainly due to differences in human-capital. Differences in their occupational and sectoral segregation further shape these wage differentials along the wage distribution in the UK, Germany and Portugal in our sample of young mothers and in Spain in the sample of old mothers.

In the fourth chapter, we analyse the combined effect of motherhood and the family status on women’s wage.

Our fourth question is :Is there a lone motherhood pay gap in Europe? And does it vary along the wage distribution of mothers?

Substantial research has been devoted to the analysis of poverty and income gaps between households of different types. The effects of family status on wages have been studied to a lesser extent. In this chapter, we present a selectivity corrected quantile regression model for the lone motherhood pay gap – the differential in hourly wage between lone mothers and those with partners. We used harmonized data from the European Community Household Panel and present results for a panel of European countries. We found evidence of lone motherhood penalties and bonuses. In our analysis, most countries presented higher wage disparities at the top of the wage distribution rather than at the bottom or at the mean. Our results suggest that cross-country differences in the lone motherhood pay gap are mainly due to differences in observed and unobserved characteristics between partnered mothers and lone mothers, differences in sample selection and presence of young children in the household. We also investigated other explanations for these differences such as the availability and level of childcare arrangements, the provision of gender-balanced leave and the level of child benefits and tax incentives. As expected, we have found significant positive relationship between the pay gap between lone and partnered mothers and the childcare, take-up and cash and tax benefits policies. Therefore improving these family policies would reduce the raw pay gap observed.

Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The thesis, entitled "Essays on macroeconometrics and short-term forecasting",

is composed of three chapters. The first two chapters are on nowcasting,

a topic that has received an increasing attention both among practitioners and

the academics especially in conjunction and in the aftermath of the 2008-2009

economic crisis. At the heart of the two chapters is the idea of exploiting the

information from data published at a higher frequency for obtaining early estimates

of the macroeconomic variable of interest. The models used to compute

the nowcasts are dynamic models conceived for handling in an efficient way

the characteristics of the data used in a real-time context, like the fact that due to the different frequencies and the non-synchronicity of the releases

the time series have in general missing data at the end of the sample. While

the first chapter uses a small model like a VAR for nowcasting Italian GDP,

the second one makes use of a dynamic factor model, more suitable to handle

medium-large data sets, for providing early estimates of the employment in

the euro area. The third chapter develops a topic only marginally touched

by the second chapter, i.e. the estimation of dynamic factor models on data characterized by block-structures.

The firrst chapter assesses the accuracy of the Italian GDP nowcasts based

on a small information set consisting of GDP itself, the industrial production

index and the Economic Sentiment Indicator. The task is carried out by using

real-time vintages of data in an out-of-sample exercise over rolling windows

of data. Beside using real-time data, the real-time setting of the exercise is

also guaranteed by updating the nowcasts according to the historical release calendar. The model used to compute the nowcasts is a mixed-frequency Vector

Autoregressive (VAR) model, cast in state-space form and estimated by

maximum likelihood. The results show that the model can provide quite accurate

early estimates of the Italian GDP growth rates not only with respect

to a naive benchmark but also with respect to a bridge model based on the

same information set and a mixed-frequency VAR with only GDP and the industrial production index.

The chapter also analyzes with some attention the role of the Economic Sentiment

Indicator, and of soft information in general. The comparison of our

mixed-frequency VAR with one with only GDP and the industrial production

index clearly shows that using soft information helps obtaining more accurate

early estimates. Evidence is also found that the advantage from using soft

information goes beyond its timeliness.

In the second chapter we focus on nowcasting the quarterly national account

employment of the euro area making use of both country-specific and

area wide information. The relevance of anticipating Eurostat estimates of

employment rests on the fact that, despite it represents an important macroeconomic

variable, euro area employment is measured at a relatively low frequency

(quarterly) and published with a considerable delay (approximately

two months and a half). Obtaining an early estimate of this variable is possible

thanks to the fact that several Member States publish employment data and

employment-related statistics in advance with respect to the Eurostat release

of the euro area employment. Data availability represents, nevertheless, a

major limit as country-level time series are in general non homogeneous, have

different starting periods and, in some cases, are very short. We construct a

data set of monthly and quarterly time series consisting of both aggregate and

country-level data on Quarterly National Account employment, employment

expectations from business surveys and Labour Force Survey employment and

unemployment. In order to perform a real time out-of-sample exercise simulating

the (pseudo) real-time availability of the data, we construct an artificial

calendar of data releases based on the effective calendar observed during the first quarter of 2012. The model used to compute the nowcasts is a dynamic

factor model allowing for mixed-frequency data, missing data at the beginning

of the sample and ragged edges typical of non synchronous data releases. Our

results show that using country-specific information as soon as it is available

allows to obtain reasonably accurate estimates of the employment of the euro

area about fifteen days before the end of the quarter.

We also look at the nowcasts of employment of the four largest Member

States. We find that (with the exception of France) augmenting the dynamic

factor model with country-specific factors provides better results than those

obtained with the model without country-specific factors.

The third chapter of the thesis deals with dynamic factor models on data

characterized by local cross-correlation due to the presence of block-structures.

The latter is modeled by introducing block-specific factors, i.e. factors that

are specific to blocks of time series. We propose an algorithm to estimate the model by (quasi) maximum likelihood and use it to run Monte Carlo

simulations to evaluate the effects of modeling or not the block-structure on

the estimates of common factors. We find two main results: first, that in finite samples modeling the block-structure, beside being interesting per se, can help

reducing the model miss-specification and getting more accurate estimates

of the common factors; second, that imposing a wrong block-structure or

imposing a block-structure when it is not present does not have negative

effects on the estimates of the common factors. These two results allow us

to conclude that it is always recommendable to model the block-structure

especially if the characteristics of the data suggest that there is one.
Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Defence date: 11 June 2015
Examining Board: Professor Martin Kohli, European University Institute (Supervisor); Professor Hans-Peter Blossfeld, European University Institute; Professor Ariana Need, University of Twente; Professor Bernhard Ebbinghaus, University of Mannheim.
After pervading Western Europe for more than twenty years, early retirement trends reversed in the mid-1990's when activation policies re-converted existing incentives to extend working life (EWL). This study investigates the institutional conditions explaining the cross-national variation of activation policies' outcomes in the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy between the mid-1990's and 2009. Revoking existing benefits for diffused and uncertain advantages, these policies faced harsh opposition from the coalitions (labour and capital organizations) interested in keeping the costs of early exit externalized for their members (older workers and their employers). In this study the central research question is: to what extent has the effectiveness of activation policies been affected by the organizational articulation of the externalization coalitions? The articulation of these coalitions is framed according to the affinities coupling protection, production and partnership institutions. From an actor-centered perspective, the EWL re-conversion is depicted as a sequential game. Under irresistible environmental pressure, the state first interact with social partners to retrench welfare incentives and then to encourage HRM strategies to retain older workers. The higher is the organizational articulation of labour and capital, the more interactions tend to be framed in social governance modes that, discouraging opportunistic actions, convey the EWL reconversion from the strategy of the state into the companies' HRM. In these cooperative modes social partners are thus expected to not hinder but to support the adoption of retrenchment and retaining policies. Being the articulation the highest in the Netherlands, lower in Germany and the lowest in Italy, the effectiveness of activation policies is expected to follow the same pattern. This hypothesis is tested using Event History Analysis on data drawn from the third wave of the SHARE in a two-stage research design estimating the effectiveness of retrenchment and retaining policies. The main findings show that social partners mediated the EWL re-conversion, promoting the effectiveness of activation in the Netherlands and hindering it among their members more in Italy than in Germany.

<p>Conservation of cultural heritage buildings is a demand from society, which recognizes this heritage as a part of their identity, but it is also an economic issue. In Europe, tourism accounts for 10% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 12% of the employment, if linked sectors are considered. The European Union (EU) is the world’s number one tourist destination, with 40% of arrivals in the world and with seven European countries among the top ten. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO) estimates, international tourist arrivals in Europe will increase signifi cantly. The built European heritage, namely monuments or historical centres, is a main attractor for tourism, with 45% of the United Nations Educational, Scientifi c and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage sites situated within the EU. Therefore, the need for their conservation is unquestionable.</p>

AbstractTrust in journalism in Europe and beyond has been undermined by a series of scandals, by the closeness of journalists to political parties and government, but also by more frequent attacks against freedom of speech and of the press run especially by populist leaders and new authoritarian governments. In some countries, like Hungary, Poland and Italy, the press freedom index is in steep decline, and governments have also entered a ‘war’ with journalism, putting increasing pressure on the free exercise of the profession, restricting budgets and the autonomy of public service broadcasting. In our chapter, we critically discuss the responses, i.e. counter-strategies, for trust-(re)building that this disruption triggers, from a top-down European Union (EU) policy perspective. We assess the EU’s response to the authoritarian and fake news challenge and discuss the limits of a voluntary (self) regulatory approach in light of public sphere standards.

ABSTRACTThis research presents several machine learning algorithms and prediction models to anticipate the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) application in different European Union (EU) countries. These analyses start with data training from 2014 to 2020 ESIF, to test and predict the application of the future ESI Funds for 2021–2027. We deliver an analysis focused on the priorities of each fund, highlighting the differences between the programs in different time periods. In the framework of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), we will specifically address the assessment of the following themes: support innovation of small and medium-sized businesses, to greener, low-carbon, and resilient projects with enhanced mobility. In what concerns the European Social Fund (ESF), we will evaluate projects that promote and increase the EU’s employment, social, education, and skills policies, including structural reforms in these areas. Regarding the cohesion funds (CF), we will be targeting the improvements between the two ESIFs, looking at projects in the field of environment and trans-European networks in the area of transport infrastructure (TEN-T). In summary, we will be looking at the future of ESIF through the glasses of artificial intelligence.

According to the general theory, it is recognized that exports increase employment. Recently, in the world economy, increasing unemployment, foreign trade of the impact on employment has led to new research. Many of the aforementioned studies validating the theory, some of them have different results. In recent studies in Turkey was a different result. In this study, Turkey and the European Union countries in terms of trade effect on employment will be examined. For this purpose, employment and foreign trade data for the years 2000-2012 using a panel data analysis will be done. Exports, imports, wages, and production depending on the change in employment and the interaction will be investigated. Depending on available data at the sectoral level, there will be a distinction. Especially in the last ten years, the recession and rise in unemployment in Europe will be discussed with the relevant dynamics. In Turkey, the current account deficit, growth, unemployment issues are noteworthy. European Union accession process, Turkey and the European Union countries in the comparison will be significant in the economic indicators.

Due to the imperfect functioning of labour markets in certain cases, State aid may be an appropriate instrument for creating new jobs and preserving existing ones. Legal regulation of the issue of State aid is an element of the competition mechanism protection, which was recognized in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This paper discusses guidelines for implementation of art. 107–109 of the TFEU, from the point of view of State aid for employment. Statistical analysis was carried out on State aid granted by EU Member States in the period 2001–2018 – from the perspective of its impact on competitiveness of these countries. This should lead to verify the thesis that the amount of State aid granted by EU Member States for employment should be positively correlated with the size of the GDP per capita of these countries.

The paper deals with the analysis of unemployment in European Union countries on the basis of data of the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed. The data are obtained from the Eurostat website. The aim of the paper is to find out how the number of unemployed in individual EU countries changed in 2018 compared to 2009, in which country the number of unemployed increased the most, in which the least. Appropriate tools of economic statistics are used for the analysis. Based on a four-factor model of the analysis of the number of unemployed, we find out how this indicator has changed depending on the change in the unemployment rate, the economic activity rate, the share of the working age population in the total population, and the total population. The application of statistical method is implemented through the programme Microsoft Office Excel.

In modern conditions, developed market economies base their growth and development on the small and medium enterprises sector and entrepreneurship, as the most efficient segment of the economy, which pro­vides the greatest contribution to employment, GDP and turnover. Since SMEs significantly contribute to employment, competitiveness and exports, developed countries have taken a systematic and organized approach to encourage their development and successful functioning. Following the ex­ample of developed countries, developing countries, are increasingly basing their economic growth and development on the SME sector. In the Republic of Serbia, at the beginning of the 21st century, institutional changes were implemented, which resulted in the improvement of the business environ­ment and significant progress in building a system for encouraging and supporting the development of SMEs. The paper aims to, through compar­ative analysis, explain the development of the SME sector in the Republic of Serbia and the European Union.

The article analyses European Union anti-discrimination law development in Member States and differences between protected grounds of discrimination. On this basis, the analysis covers recognition of the social complexity, internationalization and discrimination of foreigners for different grounds. The process of internationalization and migration, covering social, political, economical, cultural, legal processes, the non-discriminatory protection of a foreigner as a member of the society has become complicated, when attempting not to discriminate people arriving from the other countries and to have equal possibilities. The problems of discrimination are valid and significant for the civil society itself. The article also discusses the concept of multiple discrimination in European Union anti-discrimination law, legal regulation and protection against multiple discrimination in Europe and separate legal regulation of the Member States. This article argues that internationalization processes bring new approaches of interpretation of European Union employment equality law and contemporary challenges, introduces recent cases of equal treatment of employees during employment at private companies.

The formation and existence of degraded areas is one of the consequences of civilization, which has a negative impact on both the environment and economic development in the municipality. The problem of degraded areas has been faced by all countries worldwide, including Latvia, when as a result of the change of the state political system in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet system, a large number of inactive production companies appeared, resulting in a significant number of polluted / degraded areas. To solve the existing problem, local governments in Latvia use European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) funding under the Operational Program ‘Growth and Employment’ 5.6.2, specific support objective ‘Revitalization of territories by regenerating degraded areas in accordance with local government integrated development programs’ (SSO 5.6.2) to ensure the sustainable development of the territory by revitalizing degraded areas. In the implementation of projects, local governments must ensure the fulfilment of the indicators planned in the projects in the following groups of indicators: the area of degraded areas has been renewed, adapted for the location of new businesses or expansion of existing businesses in order to promote employment and economic activity in local governments; new jobs created in supported areas; non-financial investments made by businesses located in the supported territory in their own intangible investments and fixed assets. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the indicators of the implemented projects in order to be able to draw conclusions about the financial aspects of the project implementation and the progress of the project implementation.

The paper presents the results of the analysis of NUTS 2 regions with a focus on the regions of Visegrad countries. The aim is to assess the level of development of the regions in the area of Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) in relation to their economic level and position within the regions of the EU. The division of regions into groups was based on the clustering method, including Ward's method for determining the number of groups. Furthermore, the correlation between employment shares in KIBS and the level of economic development of the regions was examined. The resulting data confirms a statistically significant dependence between GDP per capita and the aggregate indicator of employment share in KIBS, especially in the sub-areas of knowledge market services and high-technology services.

The Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are a necessary element of the social and economic development of the national economy from the perspective of their significant contribution to employment, innovative capacity, and flexibility. Innovative SMEs are necessary building block in the restructuring of transition economies. The successful reformers of the Central and Eastern Europe countries can promote policies conducive to the development of innovative SMEs, and consequently benefit from the economic advantages of SMEs. However, the majority of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries are lagging behind significantly. This paper gives the analytical description of the development of SMEs in post-socialist countries during the transition process within the framework of the market reforms. The main barriers to growth of SMEs with innovation capacity are the institutional environment, and the inadequate attitude of the government towards small companies. The countries which integrated to European Union been able to overcome these barriers considerably, while the CIS countries do not have a record of significant achievement in this area.

Today, the European Union aims to integrate young people into the labour market and provide employment support. However, youth unemployment figures in the European Union are very serious. In addition to youth unemployment, NEET (Not in Education, Employment and Training) rates, which we hear frequently today and which is closely related to youth unemployment, have high rates both in the European Union and in Turkey. If these two main problems that countries have to deal with are not successful, they will impose serious costs on countries both socially and economically. Although education policies are often used for the solution, factors such as gender perception and patriarchal social structure must be left behind. In addition, strong economic growth should not be ignored to combat the problems of the young unemployed. The first aim of the study is to examine the factors that cause young unemployed and NEETs in the EU and Turkey at the macro and micro level and to present them comparatively. The second aim of the study is to empirically analyse Okun's Law, which argues that there is a negative correlation between unemployment and economic growth, for young unemployed and NEETs in Turkey between 2000 and 2020. The data used in the study was obtained from the OECD and Eurostat databases. The empirical findings obtained as a result of causality analysis show that there is a one-way relationship between economic growth, youth unemployment and NEETs.

National law is affected by a number of different international regulations and agreements. International agreements provide for rules aimed at harmonizing certain requirements and understandings that different countries should follow. In labour relations, international standards are set at two different levels – on the one hand, by the International Labour Organization (ILO), and on the other by regional standards – by the Council of Europe and the directives and regulations adopted by the European Union. All these international rules have important implications for national labour law. However, such international norms do not provide a clear personal scope – that is, it is not clearly defined to whom such international norms apply. Although the various international rules do not directly define the persons to whom those norms apply, – the implementation of international rules remains a matter for national law. Thus, the concept of both employee and employment relationship is shaped by national law. The exception here is the European Union, where the European Court of Justice has given an autonomous meaning to the concept of worker (particularly in the context of freedom of movement for workers). Although the concept of a worker and of an employment relationship has been developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, Member States retain the right to define the employment relationship in accordance with the law in force in the respective Member State. The main factor in shaping employment relationships is the employee's dependence on the person providing the work, and the person providing the work also has an obligation to pay remuneration for the work performed. Although the scope of those rules is defined differently by different international rules, the characteristics generally applicable to the definition of an employee and the employment relationship are similar to those used in national law.

The purpose of this report is to compare the risk communication strategies and public health mitigation measures implemented by Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom (UK) in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic based on publicly available documents. The report compares the country responses both in relation to one another and to the recommendations and guidance of the World Health Organization where available. The comparative report is an output of Work Package 1 from the research project PAN-FIGHT (Fighting pandemics with enhanced risk communication: Messages, compliance and vulnerability during the COVID-19 outbreak), which is financially supported by the Norwegian Research Council's extraordinary programme for corona research. PAN-FIGHT adopts a comparative approach which follows a “most different systems” variation as a logic of comparison guiding the research (Przeworski & Teune, 1970). The countries in this study include two EU member States (Sweden, Germany), one which was engaged in an exit process from the EU membership (the UK), and two non-European Union states, but both members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Norway and Switzerland. Furthermore, Germany and Switzerland govern by the Continental European Federal administrative model, with a relatively weak central bureaucracy and strong subnational, decentralised institutions. Norway and Sweden adhere to the Scandinavian model—a unitary but fairly decentralised system with power bestowed to the local authorities. The United Kingdom applies the Anglo-Saxon model, characterized by New Public Management (NPM) and decentralised managerial practices (Einhorn & Logue, 2003; Kuhlmann & Wollmann, 2014; Petridou et al., 2019). In total, PAN-FIGHT is comprised of 5 Work Packages (WPs), which are research-, recommendation-, and practice-oriented. The WPs seek to respond to the following research questions and accomplish the following: WP1: What are the characteristics of governmental and public health authorities’ risk communication strategies in five European countries, both in comparison to each other and in relation to the official strategies proposed by WHO? WP2: To what extent and how does the general public’s understanding, induced by national risk communication, vary across five countries, in relation to factors such as social capital, age, gender, socio-economic status and household composition? WP3: Based on data generated in WP1 and WP2, what is the significance of being male or female in terms of individual susceptibility to risk communication and subsequent vulnerability during the COVID-19 outbreak? WP4: Based on insight and knowledge generated in WPs 1 and 2, what recommendations can we offer national and local governments and health institutions on enhancing their risk communication strategies to curb pandemic outbreaks? WP5: Enhance health risk communication strategies across five European countries based upon the knowledge and recommendations generated by WPs 1-4. Pre-pandemic preparedness characteristics All five countries had pandemic plans developed prior to 2020, which generally were specific to influenza pandemics but not to coronaviruses. All plans had been updated following the H1N1 pandemic (2009-2010). During the SARS (2003) and MERS (2012) outbreaks, both of which are coronaviruses, all five countries experienced few cases, with notably smaller impacts than the H1N1 epidemic (2009-2010). The UK had conducted several exercises (Exercise Cygnet in 2016, Exercise Cygnus in 2016, and Exercise Iris in 2018) to check their preparedness plans; the reports from these exercises concluded that there were gaps in preparedness for epidemic outbreaks. Germany also simulated an influenza pandemic exercise in 2007 called LÜKEX 07, to train cross-state and cross-department crisis management (Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk, 2007). In 2017 within the context of the G20, Germany ran a health emergency simulation exercise with WHO and World Bank representatives to prepare for potential future pandemics (Federal Ministry of Health et al., 2017). Prior to COVID-19, only the UK had expert groups, notably the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), that was tasked with providing advice during emergencies. It had been used in previous emergency events (not exclusively limited to health). In contrast, none of the other countries had a similar expert advisory group in place prior to the pandemic. COVID-19 waves in 2020 All five countries experienced two waves of infection in 2020. The first wave occurred during the first half of the year and peaked after March 2020. The second wave arrived during the final quarter. Norway consistently had the lowest number of SARS-CoV-2 infections per million. Germany’s counts were neither the lowest nor the highest. Sweden, Switzerland and the UK alternated in having the highest numbers per million throughout 2020. Implementation of measures to control the spread of infection In Germany, Switzerland and the UK, health policy is the responsibility of regional states, (Länders, cantons and nations, respectively). However, there was a strong initial centralized response in all five countries to mitigate the spread of infection. Later on, country responses varied in the degree to which they were centralized or decentralized. Risk communication In all countries, a large variety of communication channels were used (press briefings, websites, social media, interviews). Digital communication channels were used extensively. Artificial intelligence was used, for example chatbots and decision support systems. Dashboards were used to provide access to and communicate data.

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To do this, the report utilised indicators of: you-th population; youth employment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characterisation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central cri-terion, enabling proportional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail. The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the in-dicators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from ILOSTAT explorer public datasets.The analyses show that between 2009 and 2019 youth population in both rural and urban areas decreased. In general, a strong decline in youth population was observed within all categories, with the most significant decrease within the age group 25-29 (21.57%) and 15-19 (20.35%). Youth employment has tended to decrease overall, and the decrease is stron-ger within rural regions. Interestingly, youth unemployment has also tended to decrease, and a significantly higher share of unemployed youth is from rural regions. A somewhat similar trend is observed in the field of education where the number of those enrolled significantly decreased during the observed period for all education levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ESLET rate tended to decrease, while the proportion of the female po-pulation tends to have higher ESLET levels compared to the male population. However, the ESLET rate is still below the 10% target defined by the Europe 2020 strategy. Finally, the proportion of NEETs in Bosnia and Herzegovina is higher in rural areas, while in general the tendency has been for it to decrease during the observed period.

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Bulgaria. To do this, the report utilised indicators of: youth population; you-th employment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characteri-sation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central criterion, enabling proportional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail. The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the indi-cators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from Eurostat public datasets. The analyses show that between 2009 and 2019 the rural youth population aged 15 to 24 years has been increasing in Bulgaria. Although the youth unemployment rate is higher in cities, rural areas faced more difficulties in overcoming the effects of the crisis, particularly among young adults aged over 25 years. In the field of education, however, there was an absolute and relative reduction in the proportion of young people with lower qualifications compared with young people in early school leavers in rural areas between 2009-2019, even though it still remains well above the 10% target defined by the Europe 2020 strate-gy. Finally, the proportion of NEETs in Bulgaria is higher in rural areas, in all age groups with available data, compared to cities and towns and suburbs, thereby revealing territorial inequalities in access to employment and education opportunities

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Edu-cation or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Montenegro. To do this, the report utilised indicators of: youth population; youth employment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characterisation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central criterion, enabling propor-tional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail. The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the in-dicators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from Eurostat public datasets. The analyses show that between 2011 and 2019, the youth population aged 15 to 29 years has been decreasing in Montenegro. Youth unemployment in rural areas is more noticeable, even though the youth unemployment rate is higher in cities. In the field of education, however, there was an absolute and relative reduction in the proportion of young people with lower qualifications and young people in the category of early school leavers in rural areas between 2011-2019. Finally, the proportion of NEETs in Montenegro is higher in rural areas, compared to urban regions, thus revealing territorial inequalities in access to employment and education opportunities.

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural youths Neither in Employment, nor in Edu-cation or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Portugal. To do this, the report portrays indicators of: youth population; youth em-ployment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characterisation of all indicators adopts the degree of urbanisation as a central criterion, thereby enabling propor-tional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail.The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the in-dicators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from Eurostat public datasets.The analyses show that between 2009 and 2019 the rural youth population aged 15 to 24 years has been increasing in Portugal. Although the youth unemployment rate is higher in cities, rural areas faced more difficulties in overcoming the effects of the crisis, particularly among young adults aged over 25 years. In the field of education, however, there was an absolute and relative reduction in the proportion of young people with lower qualifications compared with young people in early school leavers in rural areas between 2009-2019, even though it still remains well above the 10% target defined by the Europe 2020 strategy. Finally, the proportion of NEETs in Portugal is higher in rural areas, in all age groups with available data, compared to cities and towns and suburbs, thereby revealing territorial in-equalities in access to employment and education opportunities.

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Germany. To do this, the report utilised indicators of: youth population; youth employment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characte-risation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central criterion, enabling proportional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail. The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the in-dicators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from Eurostat public datasets. The analyses show that the rural youth population aged 15 to 24 years significantly increa-sed between 2009 and 2012 and then decreased slightly until 2019. The youth employment rate in Germany is generally increasing, and is at all times significantly higher in rural areas than in cities, towns and suburbs. The reverse trend applies to youth unemployment, which generally decreased in the observed period and which is at all times lowest in rural areas. A look at educational attainment levels showed a slight decline in rural areas of low educated persons between 2009 and 2019, while the proportion of rural youth with medium and high education slightly increased. At the same time, the proportion of early school leavers in rural areas after an increase until 2011, fell sharply and reached the 2009 level again by 2019. Be-ing 9% in 2019, it remains, at least in rural areas, slightly below the 10% target defined by the Europe 2020 strategy. Finally, the proportion of NEETs in Germany is lower in rural areas in all age classes and as a whole decreased significantly from 2009 to 2019.

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Bosnia and Herzegovina. To do this, the report utilised indicators of: you-th population; youth employment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characterisation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central cri-terion, enabling proportional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail. The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the in-dicators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from ILOSTAT explorer public datasets.The analyses show that between 2009 and 2019 youth population in both rural and urban areas decreased. In general, a strong decline in youth population was observed within all categories, with the most significant decrease within the age group 25-29 (21.57%) and 15-19 (20.35%). Youth employment has tended to decrease overall, and the decrease is stron-ger within rural regions. Interestingly, youth unemployment has also tended to decrease, and a significantly higher share of unemployed youth is from rural regions. A somewhat similar trend is observed in the field of education where the number of those enrolled significantly decreased during the observed period for all education levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ESLET rate tended to decrease, while the proportion of the female po-pulation tends to have higher ESLET levels compared to the male population. However, the ESLET rate is still below the 10% target defined by the Europe 2020 strategy. Finally, the proportion of NEETs in Bosnia and Herzegovina is higher in rural areas, while in general the tendency has been for it to decrease during the observed period.

This report outlines in detail the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) aged between 15 and 34 years old, over the last decade (2009-2019) in Spain. To do this, the report utilised indicators of: youth population; youth employment and unemployment; education; and, NEETs distribution. The characterisation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central criterion, enabling propor-tional comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further divided into age subgroups and, where possible, into sex groups for greater detail.The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involve: des-criptive longitudinal analysis; using graphical displays (e.g., overlay line charts); and, the calculation of proportional absolute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019, and finally 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the in-dicators evolution before and after the economic crisis which hit European countries. All data was extracted from Eurostat public datasets.In the last ten years (2009 - 2019) a significant portion of the Spanish youth population has migrated from rural areas to cities and towns. This migration trend could be explained by the economic crisis which impacted upon Spain from 2008 onwards. Data shown in this report makes visible the vulnerability of rural NEET youth to these downturns from 2009 to 2013. In line with this, Early-school leaving (ESLET) and unemployment rates in rural areas were more pronounced in 2013 and the following years for rural youth in comparison with youth living in urban areas and towns. However, in the last two years (2017-2019) there has been a sharp decrease in these indicators placing youth living rural areas, on average, in line with the rest (i.e., an average NEET youth rate in Spain 15% versus 16% for rural areas).

This report presents the situation of rural Youths Neither in Employment, nor in Education or Training (NEET) in Croatia, aged between 15 and 34 years old, in the period from 2009 until 2019. To achieve this goal, the report utilised indicators of youth population, youth em-ployment and unemployment, education and NEETs distribution. The characterisation of all indicators adopted the degree of urbanisation as a central criteria, enabling comparisons between rural areas, towns and suburbs, cities and the whole country. These analyses are further collapsed into age sub-groups and, when possible, in sex groups for greater detail. The statistical procedures adopted across the different selected dimensions involved des-criptive longitudinal analysis, using figures (e.g., line charts) as well as the calculation of abso-lute and relative changes between 2009 and 2013, 2013 and 2019 and 2009 and 2019. These time ranges were chosen to capture the indicators evolution before and after the economic crisis that hit European countries. All data was extracted from Eurostat public datasets. The analyses show that between 2009 and 2019 rural youth population aged 15 to 24 years has been decreasing in Croatia. Youth unemployment was marked by two distinct periods, one from 2009 to 2013 (with higher rates of youth unemployment) and another from 2013 to 2019 (with the decrease in unemployment rates, with lower unemployment rates in ci-ties and higher in towns and suburbs and rural areas). In the field of education, however, there has been a decrease of the Croatian population with lower levels of education and an increase of the proportion of those with higher educational attainment. Finally, the propor-tion of NEETs in Croatia is higher in rural areas compared to cities and towns and suburbs, revealing territorial inequalities in access to employment and education opportunities.