TY - JOUR

T1 - Being NEET in Youthspaces of the EU South

T2 - A Post-recession Regional Perspective

AU - Avagianou, Athina

AU - Kapitsinis, Nikolaos

AU - Papageorgiou, Ioannis

AU - Strand, Anne Hege

AU - Gialis, Stelios

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Youth unemployment and precarity have been expanding in the aftermath of the recent global recession. This article offers a theoretically informed empirical examination of the spatio-temporally uneven expansion of young people ‘Not in Employment, Education or Training’ (NEETs) between 2008 and 2018 in the European Union (EU) South, namely in Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus. This article contributes to the growing literature on youth inactivity and marginalization, by focusing on the spatial, rather than just the temporal dimension of youth which marks most relevant studies. The analysis engages with the concept of ‘youthspaces’ to critically analyse the economic, social and political spatialities that determine the dynamic relationship between youth and the labour market, and discuss the persistently high NEET rate in the EU South. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we highlight that gender, class, education and economic growth are key socio-spatial factors that determine the geographically uneven expansion of NEETs across the study regions.

AB - Youth unemployment and precarity have been expanding in the aftermath of the recent global recession. This article offers a theoretically informed empirical examination of the spatio-temporally uneven expansion of young people ‘Not in Employment, Education or Training’ (NEETs) between 2008 and 2018 in the European Union (EU) South, namely in Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus. This article contributes to the growing literature on youth inactivity and marginalization, by focusing on the spatial, rather than just the temporal dimension of youth which marks most relevant studies. The analysis engages with the concept of ‘youthspaces’ to critically analyse the economic, social and political spatialities that determine the dynamic relationship between youth and the labour market, and discuss the persistently high NEET rate in the EU South. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we highlight that gender, class, education and economic growth are key socio-spatial factors that determine the geographically uneven expansion of NEETs across the study regions.

U2 - 10.1177/11033088221086365

DO - 10.1177/11033088221086365

M3 - Journal article

VL - 30

SP - 425

EP - 454

JO - Young

JF - Young

SN - 1103-3088

IS - 5

ER -