This book examines the everyday-life patterns of young adults under circumstances of vulnerability and precariousness. Its main focus is on the web of social relations that structure the everyday life of young people, for instance by providing resources and tools of solving problems, exerting pressures and voicing expectations, and shaping the person’s self-conception, identity, and well-being. Based on more than 120 in-depth interviews with young long-term unemployed in six European countries, this book puts social support and the young jobless’ webs of social relations at center stage. It expands knowledge by raising awareness of the multidimensionality and complexity of the social conditions of young jobless, drawing, on the one hand, a more differentiated picture of unemployment, vulnerability and social exclusion amongst young people and, on the other hand, taking a close look at the social reality of young adults’ unemployment in different European cities.

This ground-breaking book presents incisive studies by sixteen leading academics, labour policymakers, employment services professionals, and employment researchers from Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Poland. The articles provide an excellent overview of employment services experience throughout the EU, and demonstrate that careful application of active labour market measures can produce positive results in combating long-term unemployment. Notable for its emphasis on the proven power of cooperation among various stakeholders in reducing unemployment, New European Approaches to Long-Term Unemployment will be a welcome resource for employment services both public and private, other public labour and employment organisations, and employers, as well as to academics, lawyers, and other interested professionals. -- Provided by publisher.