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The purpose of this paper is to report on the challenges and approaches taken to address the issue of NEETs in North East England. The area around Redcar in East Cleveland has high levels of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. This paper compared actions taken in England in the support offered to disaffected youth and reports on the strategy pursued in East Cleveland.

The research was primarily desk-based, interrogating Government publications as well as that generated by executive agencies and local educational institutions. A number of key figures were surveyed in addition to obtain a grounded insight into the challenges that confront those who work in this area.

This study identified areas of good practice that could be considered elsewhere. Its conclusions emphasise that solutions to the NEETs problem are to be found in bespoke and individually focused programmes that value the contribution of young people to society and aim to build their self-esteem and confidence. It also highlights the importance of inter-agency cooperation and joined up strategic planning.

This study would have benefited from the opportunity to survey the views of young people involved in support programmes. Given issues of confidentiality, this was not possible.

This study adds to the literature generated by Government bodies and educational institutions on the issue of disaffected youth. Its value lies in its reference to a specific geographic area and its insight into the work of local professionals in tackling this complex social issue.

The paper aims to provide comparative empirical evidence on young people neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET-youth) under the influence of the digital divide, education and sectoral growth across the EU regions, with a focus on the transition patterns followed over time by EU regions in bridging the digital divide and their specific implications on school-to-work transition (STWT).

Firstly, five variables on Internet usage activities are aggregated into an index of E-skills. Secondly, linear dynamic panel data regression models are used to explain the influence of various factors on regional rates of NEET-youth, with or without grouping regions upon the digital divide in relative terms.

Advanced digital literary skills are found to have a stronger effect on the STWT than the basic ones. The growth of employment in specific economic activities like “Information and Communication” enhances STWT, but only when considering regional differences in the digital divide and E-skills as well. However, the negative effect of deprivation and low educational attainments on STWT is offset by a low level of the regional digital divide. In addition, more R&D expenditure in higher education is necessary to compensate for the effect of the digital divide on the STWT.

On brief, the policy implications are twofold. Firstly, regions will need to focus more on reducing the digital divide, because it will not only generate positive effects for STWT but will also enhance the positive impact of education and sectoral growth on STWT and even compensate for their low progress. Secondly, in the context of the EU single market, to better address the situation of young people, regions should monitor the relative progress in bridging the digital divide and improving E-skills, with respect to the other EU regions. Improving the relative position on the EU map of E-skills increases the effectiveness of regional policies targeting the STWT.

The originality of the paper lies in the regional approach to the relationship between STWT and the digital divide, which allows us to derive new policy measures for the EU regions. Other innovative contributions rely on the identification of (1) transition patterns that region follow over time in improving STWT while bridging the digital divide and (2) policy measures addressing the NEETs in the context of the regional digital divide.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation with the future of young-adults Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in Italy. The study of temporal experiences allows to understand how subjects represent their own condition and construct their biographies in an age of uncertainty.

The study follows a qualitative approach to allow participants to express their own experiences and representations through narratives. The 12 cases considered are illustrative of the different orientations detected in the group of 36 young people involved in the research.

Young-adults NEET have problems in acquiring a recognized social status and in designing future orientations. The difficulties to project themselves in time hinder the attainment of a sense of biographical continuity as well as the process of identity construction, which tends to be increasingly detached from the planning sphere.

The study adds to the literature on the issue of young people NEET, contributing to differentiate the social conditions of this group by referring to their experiences, social belongings and resources. The analysis sheds new light on the agency of young people, that conceive biographical strategies in relation to the scenarios they envisage.

It is increasingly important to study labour market outcomes for people who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Where most studies focus solely on young people, the purpose of this paper is to include both younger and older NEETs to find out if there is any long-term scarring effect, and if the effect is different between these two groups.

This study uses a twin-based estimation method for the first time to measure the long-term effect of economic inactivity on income. The analysis is based on biological twins, in order to control for individuals’ unobservable heterogeneity. It is assumed that twins are similar to each other and the only unobservable heterogeneity is at the family level. Register-based data from Statistics Sweden is used.

The result indicates a significant negative income effect for those who have been in NEET, and is larger for those who have been in NEET for several consecutive periods of time. Individuals who were in NEET during 2001-2003 had on average 62 per cent lower income compared with their twin in 2011. The corresponding number for individuals who were in NEET for just one period was 33 per cent. Hence, time in NEET reduces income. The results show that the long-term scarring effect is not affected by age.

This study utilises for the first time a twin-based estimation method to measure the long-term effect of inactivity. Most studies focus solely on young people, but the authors also include an older group of people.

This chapter discusses the issue of those young people who upon leaving compulsory education at age 16 in England do not progress into further education, training or employment and are known as NEETs. It elucidates possible causes of NEETs and the characteristics of those classed as NEET. A particular intervention programme, Learning Independence for Future Transition (LIFT), is described as developed and implemented in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) and some evaluative comments offered.

The purpose of this study is to improve understanding of the role of the family as NEET determinants in a country with free education in a Mediterranean or Southern European welfare state, so that the authors can contribute to policy recommendations and offer suggestions for future studies.

The authors used TurkStat (2021) household workforce statistics microdata (TurkStat permit number 10484) for multinomial logistic regression. These microdata are the most detailed data representation of all households in Turkey in 2021, representing all household members (n = 635.159) and young people aged 15–24 years (n = 88.974) in Turkey. Of the data on youth, those not in education or employment constituted the NEET sample (n = 21,729). The authors also used the 2014–2020 household workforce statistics microdata (TurkStat permit number 3188) to explain the proportional changes between the status of NEETs in past years and today.

The age factor (20–24) and long-term unemployment in men and marital status (for married and divorced) in women are of critical importance for the risk of being NEET. Compulsory education is the most influential factor in reducing the risk of NEET for both genders. The estimations of logistic regression models showed significantly that the increase in the education level of parents decreased the probability of NEET in the household. In particular, the gains of mothers after compulsory education (university, postgraduate education) increased the probability of young people in the household being NEET compared to the education levels of fathers.

The authors make two contributions with this study. First, the authors discuss current microdata and NEET determinants in Turkey, which is the subject of limited research and has one of the highest rates of NEET in the 15–29-years age category (28.7%) in the OECD (2021). Second, the authors are the first to examine parental education or employment for NEETs in Turkey. Findings from the study allow comparison of Turkey and southern European welfare regime countries and fill the gap in the literature on NEET and parent relationship in Turkey with a strong and up-to-date dataset.

Evaluation of employment skills programmes (ESP) delivered by work integration social enterprises (WISEs) for the benefit of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) is often undertaken by the programme providers. This method of evaluation often lacks objectivity and academic rigour and tends to focus exclusively on output. The purpose of this paper is to reveal programme outcome benefits for NEET participants after completing a six‐week ESP, delivered by a WISE. The study highlights the participant perspective and adds an objective dimension to programme evaluation through an innovative, inductive evaluation process.

The research adopted an intervention method, within a qualitative paradigm, employing semi‐structured interviews conducted pre‐ and post‐participant engagement in the ESP. NEET participants were also asked to complete questionnaires designed to measure general self‐efficacy and attitude to enterprise. The questionnaires were introduced in order to test the suitability of this type of questionnaire with NEET groups in future larger‐scale studies.

Analysis of the interview data revealed ten overall participant perception themes: “experience”, “self‐confidence”, “the programme”, “perceived barriers” and “maturity” at Time 1 and “experience”, “self‐confidence”, “the programme”, “enterprise” and “future” at Time 2. Outcome benefits are demonstrated through differences in participant perception themes revealed at Time 1 and Time 2. Relationships between participant perception themes and questionnaire constructs are discussed in the context of future larger‐scale evaluations.

Adopting an intervention method employing semi‐structured interviews, allowed the participants to articulate the outcome benefits that were important for them rather than merely providing affirmation of the programme provider's expectations.

Using a regression discontinuity design in tandem with a difference-in-discontinuities analysis, the study finds that increasing the minimum wage reduces the employment probability of young males by 2.5–3.1 percentage points.

The authors exploit an age-specific minimum wage rule – which sets a lower minimum wage for workers of age 15 than the adult minimum wage paid to workers of age 16 and above – and its abolition to estimate the causal effect of a minimum wage increase on youth employment and education in Turkey.

The authors also document that, initially, the minimum wage increase does not lead to a major change in high school enrollment, while the likelihood of transitioning into “neither in employment nor in education and training” (NEET) category notably increases. However, in the medium term, the NEET effect is transitory; school enrollment increases over time and absorbs the negative employment effect.

The authors argue that policy effects have mostly been driven by demand-side forces rather than the supply side.

The purpose of this paper is to evidence and better understand adolescent information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances, and explore issues of social integration.

Interdisciplinary theoretical framework bringing together theories of information behaviour with theories of social capital. Mixed method design incorporating observation, interviews, and focus group conducted in areas of multiple deprivations. Participants’ young people aged 16-19 not in education, employment or training (NEET); and their support workers.

Heightened access and internalised behavioural barriers found beyond those common to the general adolescent population, the former influenced by technology and literacy issues, the latter by social structures and norms. There is evidence suggestive of deception, risk-taking, secrecy, and situational relevance in information behaviours, and a reliance on bonding social capital characteristically exclusive and inward facing. Low levels of literacy and self-efficacy are significant interrelated issues, with NEET youth dependent upon support workers when seeking and processing information, and demonstrating passive non-motivated information behaviours often abandoned.

Highlights the need for further interdisciplinary research to explore complex relations between social and affective factors, and that seeks to both understand and influence information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances.

Remedial literacy education recommended as an immediate priority for public and third sector agencies.

First study of adolescent information behaviours in disadvantaged and disengaged circumstances. Novel interdisciplinary theoretical framework evidences and draws attention to understudied and enduring information poverty issues of significant societal concern, potentially consigning a significant proportion of the youth population to a stratified existence within an impoverished (small) information world. Sets a focused interdisciplinary research agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the enrolment at university and the subsequent possible dropout as a piece of the school-to-work transition and ask whether it improves or worsens the labour market outcomes a few years after graduation from the high school.

The analysis exploits data from the upper secondary graduate survey by ISTAT on a cohort of high school graduates and investigates the effect of dropping out four years after graduation. The labour market outcomes of university dropouts are compared to the outcomes of high school graduates who never enrolled at university. A propensity score matching approach is applied. The model is also estimated on the subsamples of males and females.

The findings show that spending a period at university and leaving it before completion makes the transition to work substantially more difficult. Both the probability of being NEET and getting a bad job increase in the case of dropout, while no relevant effect is found on earnings. Moreover, the impact of university dropout tends to be more harmful the longer the spell from enrolment to dropping out. Separate estimates by gender point out that females appear to be relatively more affected in the case of dropping out without a fallback plan.

While the existing studies in the literature on the school-to-work transition mostly focus on the determinants of the dropout, this paper investigates whether and how the employment outcomes are affected by dropping out in Italy. Moreover, university dropouts are compared to high school graduates with no university experience, rather than to university graduates. Finally, evidence on the mechanisms driving the effect of dropping out is provided, by considering timing and motivations for dropping out.