397.10
Youths Not in Employment, Education or Training: A Comparison of Austrian Federal Provinces
Due to the limited relevance of traditional labour market indicators for youth unemployment, researchers and policy-makers focus on an indicator known as not in employment, education or training (‘NEET’). In that context Austria is mentioned as good example because it has one of the lowest NEET rates in the European Union (Eurofound 2012). Nevertheless regional disparities within Austria are less recognised. The objective of this research is to deepen knowledge concerning the causes of differences in the NEET rates between the federal provinces in Austria and to specify individual and contextual effects by using multilevel analysis.
In order to reach the objective as outlined above a secondary data analysis is performed. Socio-structural factors that are considered to be relevant for regional disparities in NEET rates: sex, age, size of municipality, country of birth and citizenship. Institutional and economic characteristics that are perceived to have impact on NEET risk: role of general and vocational education, level of expenditure on active labour market policy and number of vacant jobs. To identify effects of individual and contextual characteristics on NEET rates multilevel models (Hox 2010) are calculated in Stata. In addition interaction effects between contextual and socio-structural variables are analysed.
First findings show, that between 2006 and 2013 NEET-rates differ substantial between the Austrian federal provinces. Multilevel analysis indicates that high importance of dual training, high number of vacant jobs and high level of expenditure on active labour market policy can make a significant contribution reducing the number of NEETs
References
Eurofound (2012): Neets, young people not in employment, education or training: Characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe. Dublin: European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions.
Hox, J. (2010): Multilevel Analysis. Techniques and Application. New York: Routledge.