Youth at risk of marginalization – long-term effects of early labour market exclusion in Sweden

The heavy recession in Sweden during the first half of the nineties led to a very difficult situation for young people with a weak position on the labour market. Around a third of the youths born in the mid seventies had received social welfare benefits before the age of 24. Despite the recovery in the Swedish economy a group of young adults, now in their thirties, simply can not find a way to either work or education. The characteristics among the group are low self-esteem, incomplete upper secondary education and a problematic social situation. How can we understand their very prolonged transition to adulthood? In our research project we study the long-term effects of early exclusion from the labour market. To what extent is youth affected by the state of the market at the time of their establishment? Can a difficult labour market situation lead to more permanent exclusion for those young who already are in a vulnerable position? In our analyses we work with both longitudinal national registers of this cohort as well as qualitative interviews with the affected youth. What are the long-term effects of massive youth unemployment for those who thereby risk permanent exclusion? (Less)