Four narratives of overcoming early job insecurity in Europe: a capability approach

Abstract

Overcoming early job insecurity is a demanding challenge for young people, even when labour market conditions are favourable. Over the past decades, young Europeans have had to face some very significant obstacles: the economic crisis of the 1980s, the collapse of the communist regimes and, most recently, the financial crisis. These major economic and political upheavals have made youth trajectories into adulthood even more arduous. Through a comparative analysis of nine qualitative life-course interviews from seven European countries (Greece, Norway, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic), this chapter examines the subjective consequences of these challenges. Four main narratives emerge from our analysis: (1) the Stumbler, (2) the Stigmatized, (3) the Great Crisis and (4) the Messy Life. The Stumbler narrative encompasses life-course trajectories where unemployment and precarious work situations had few lasting consequences for individuals’ prospects for meaningful work. The Stigmatized narrative captures young people who have faced lasting difficulties that they attribute to characteristics they are unable to change, for example ethnicity and disability. The Great Crisis narrative refers to groups of people trying to find work at a time when significant political or economic upheavals hampered these attempts. We focus here on the financial crisis of 2008, looking at how broader macro-structural changes impacted on young people’s personal sense of active agency. Lastly, the Messy Life narrative characterizes individuals who question society’s ideals about work–life balance and develop