A wise Disney produced monkey once told me ‘Look beyond, what you can see’. I hope what I mean by this becomes apparent by the end of this blog, but for those of you who are familiar with C. Wright Mills Sociological Imagination, should understand.
In 2012, the Telegraph published that a third of young people (those between 18 and 24) have never been in paid employment, naturally, the tone of the article is that it is their fault. This is not the only form of media that is portraying youths in this light. Many right-wing publications, or Jeremy Kyle echo the opinions of the Telegraph. I, however, am going to argue that this is too simplistic to lay the blame at those unemployed school leavers, and instead, suggest that is it more of a structural issue with the whole of Western society.
The significance of employment, in not only providing income to the individual, but the social status and psychological well-being has long been acknowledged. Marie Jahoda argued that ‘work plays a crucial and perhaps unparalleled psychological role in the formation of self-esteem, identify and sense of order’. So, taking employment as essential to the development and successful integration of a school leaver into society and for their psychological well-being, I am going to ask the question, do they have a chance, and are we failing them?
During the current recession, with large numbers facing or being made redundant, the labour market is very competitive; and this is just for the experienced adults! And then, throwing the inexperienced school or college leavers into the mix, who are also vying for the unskilled positions, such as factory, warehouse, and retail positions, it is not hard to understand, even from this, that employers are going to favour the experienced adults. Furthermore, since the 1980s, the demand for youth labour has declined dramatically. Among the reasons for this decline are: drastic reductions in the numbers employed in labour – intensive industries, notably in manufacturing, which had formerly relied heavily on school leavers as a source of labour, for example, since the Thatcher years, the economy has become a more service based, rather than the manufacturer of goods, which has been moved over to the Asian countries due to their cheap labour. This has had a big impact on youth unemployment, which is supported by Malcolm Maguire and Susan Maguire, who argue’ the impact of technology, for example, machinery has been able to replace the roles that were previous undertaken by humans; increased business competition which, notably in parts of the service sector, has reduced the demand for routine clerical workers; organisational restructuring; and the repackaging of jobs to make them more suitable for people wishing to work part time, such jobs have been targeted at women, who are looking for part time work while their child are at school.
Granted, there will be other dimensions to assess, such as education, demographics, culture, as well as numerous others, in regards to why youths are being portrayed in the media as lazy or not contributing. The consequences, however, of all of the above, has been a decline for the demand of relatively unqualified and inexperienced youth labour. Thus, overall, a significant number of jobs which were traditionally open to young people have disappeared. So, when reading media, which condemns young people for being lazy, due to just being unemployed, look at the markets, the economy and society as a whole, and ask whether, as a nation, we are failing school leavers with lack of employment opportunities or, like some media claims, youths are lazy.
References – Additional Reading.
I will add to this over time should I find useful books.
Youth, the ‘underclass’ and Social Exclusion. – Robert MacDonald.
Daniel Winsbury Sociology 