Education, Training and Employment Dynamics: Transitional Labour Markets in the European Union

Education and training are of critical importance to individual employment prospects. This book questions whether the policies that govern education, training and employment actually facilitate or inhibit social integration.

The authors analyse initial entry into the labour market and subsequent movements between employers, and explore links between education, training and the labour market. The book argues that although education is a good predictor of labour market integration and employment potential, and despite political efforts, social background nevertheless remains influential. The importance of continued training to improve opportunities for promotion is also demonstrated.

The volume draws on economic, sociological and political science research to examine the potential for lifelong learning to enhance social integration, and new theories and evidence on the transitional labour market of learning and working are discussed. A wide range of European countries are also analysed using data from the European Community Household Panel surveys (ECHP), as well as national enterprise-level surveys and case studies.

Education, Training and Employment Dynamics will be welcomed by a varied audience; economists will find the challenge to human capital theory inspiring, and sociologists are offered a new approach to life course research, whilst political scientists will find an interesting study of multi-level policy making in the EU.

Edited by Klaus Schömann, International University Bremen, Germany and Philip J. O’Connell, University College Dublin, Ireland