Episodes
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The next decade will bring considerable changes to economies and societies. On one hand, the side-effects of the COVID-19 combined with the uncertainties coming out of the war in the Ukraine will certainly affect globalization, mobilities and policy-making at national and international levels. On the other hand, the succession of crisis show the importance of shifting societies to greener, more sustainable societies, supported for ever more sophisticated technologies. We are, therefore, facing a transition between eras with all the transformative energy, but also with all the destructive power that transitions bring attached.
Mark Brennan, a professor of Sociology at Penn State University and a UNESCO Chair in Community, Leadership, and Youth Development closes our podcast series with a broad reflection about young people dreams, expectations and similarities across the world.
Our guest argues that massive technological changes as well as the need for a more sustainable way of life may represent a tremendous opportunity for rural communities. If this scenario is confirmed, rural people can have a pivotal role in reshaping rural ways of life.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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School to work transitions should have as an end goal to achieve a decent job. Decent jobs depend on multiple institutional and social arrangements as well as on key individual factors. However, the definition of decent work seems to still overfocus on job conditions such as income. On the other hand, for younger generations, especially those from marginalized groups, decent jobs are hard to reach.
In this episode, Jonas Masdonati shares with us the concept of decent work. He discusses how this notion stems from both the need to find stable, legal, and well paid jobs, but also to find personal and social meaning in work.
Our guest points out how career development and career choices among younger generations will increasingly involve sustainability dimensions, something that will shape the future of work.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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Missing episodes?
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According to the Eurostat, in 2020, across the EU27 member-states, the proportion of NEETs was higher in rural regions when compared with the same rate in cities. More importantly, a substantial uneven NEET distribution by the degree of urbanization was evident in many Eastern countries such as Bulgaria or Romania or Southern countries such as Greece. In these countries, gaps between cities and rural areas ranged from 10 to more than 20 percentual points.
The research community is reacting slowly to this trend. A recent bibliometric review confirms that from 324 papers focusing on NEETs published on the Web of Science, between 2002 and 2021, only 16 focused on rural NEETs.
Paul Flynn from Ireland and Emre Erdogan from Turkey offer a summary of the special issue “Challenges Associated With European Rural NEETs Youth Inclusion” promoted by the Rural NEET Youth Network.
An important message coming out of this episode is that rural NEETs deserve to be considered as specific subgroup of NEETs, to the huge territorial disparities between urban and rural areas across Europe. These differences come to affect greatly youth future prospects.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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Being a young person not in Employment or in Education and Training, a.k.a. NEETs is a risk factor leading to worst mental health. Some authors dispute, however, that being NEET is a risk factor for mental health issues, creating a myth that these youths are in a worst psychological condition. In any case, Rural NEETs struggle more to get access to mental healthcare services. Frida Jonsson, a researcher from Umeo University of Sweden, discusses in this episode how can rural neets mental health needs be addressed, in particular how much those needs changed with the pandemic.
This and other questions like if the digitalization of health care can improve service provision in rural regions and the pros and cons of this process are taken in account in an episode that can be listened in full at rnyobservatory.eu
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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COVID-19 seems to have accelerated the need and demand for the digitalization of public services. On the other hand, international bodies such as the European Union are pushing forward for the improvement of citizens’ digital skills. For instance, by 2025, it is expected that the share of low-achieving eighth-graders in computer and information literacy should be less than 15%. In this talk, Łukasz Tomczyk from the University of Macerata in Italy, discusses how can digitalization support young people to achieve their educational goals, especially vulnerable people like rural NEETs
Other aspects are discussed in this episode, namely how can digital tools and skills contribute to ease the school to work transition.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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As a COST Action, Rural NEET Youth Network is committed with involving more people in developing in-depth knowledge about rural young people, especially the most vulnerable ones.
Emerging, talented young researchers can help to move forward this aim across Europe in areas such as spatial mobility, young people’s social networks, or their transition from school to work in the countryside.
How can COST Actions support young researchers in developing their research careers? What are the tools available out there to help them excel? And How has the Rural NEET Youth Network manage to promote these goals? These topics are discussed with Alen Mujcinovic, a researcher from the University of Sarajevo that shares in this talk how did COST Actions, and specifically Rural NEET Youth Network, contribute to his professional and personal development.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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The Youth Guarantee is the flagship policy framework aiming at reducing the share of NEETs in the European Union. This EU initiative has recently been relaunched and an analysis shows that the program has contributed to reduce the number of young people not in employment, nor in education and training by about about 3 percent, between 2011 and 2019. However, the results show contrasts between North and South and East and West countries, rural and urban areas and different NEETs profiles. In 2021, Rural NEET Youth Network published a special issue entitled "Strategies, policies, programs and projects for rural NEETs”, and Claudia Petrescu and Stefan Bojnec, two researchers of the network, briefly describe here the focus of this publication.
The researchers also enact some factors for success in terms of best practices when working with NEET, such as countries’ level of development, active employment policies or social entrepreneurship initiatives. Finally, they project what are the measures that should be taken in order to run more effective programs and policies for rural young people.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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In this episode, Slaven Gasparovic and Òscar Prieto-Flores share the lessons learned with the special issue “Lessons on Building More Sustainable Rural Societies: Youth and Mobility” organized by the Rural NEET Youth Network. Rural young people outmigration seems to be one of the main drivers of rural communities brain-draining. One of the important lessons learned has to do with the importance of transportation and distance to big centers as main drivers of youth mobility. Our guests conclude that the patterns of rural youth mobility will become even more fluid, with dominant outmigration fluxes driven by professional development and access to tertiary education being tempered by incoming young people, especially migrants looking for opportunities in agriculture and related activities, in rural areas.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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Effective policies to address youth unemployment require horizontal coordination – between different governmental departments - as well as vertical coordination - between priorities placed at the European, national and regional levels. Unfortunately there is still a dominant, bureaucratic culture of policy-making silos, with only a few interconnections between education, employment or social welfare. Moreover, broadband European policies, such as the Youth Guarantee struggle to be translated into meaningful programs at the national or the regional levels, due to shortage of on-the-ground resources or a mismatch between policy priorities and young people’s needs and expectations.
Rui Marques, from IPAV Institute in Portugal, talks about integrated governance and which are its main advantages.
The director of this Portuguese NGO also reflects, in this talk, about the main challenges presented to the model, but also its opportunities.
The main takeaway from the talk is that new models of governance, such as the integrated model approach, can help to improve youth employment policies horizontal and vertical coordination.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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In 2020, about 2 million young people aged 15-29 years old were NEETs. 40% of them had lower educational levels, and only 11% were graduates. In 2019, 33% of the Italian NEETs’ were concentrated in Southern Italy, followed by Central Italy with 18.5% and Northern Italy with 14.1%. These figures reflect long and complex transitions from school to work in the country.
The guest, Valentina Cuzzocrea, from the University of Cagliari in Italy, reflects on this matters and, among other aspects, focuses on the differences between North and South Italy regarding young people’s labour market inclusion.
in this talk, The researcher also highlights some aspects that other countries may learn from Italy, such as the role of the family in school to work transition or the importance of both schools and employers in this process.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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The next decade will bring considerable changes to economies and societies. On one hand, the side-effects of the COVID-19 combined with the uncertainties coming out of the war in the Ukraine will certainly affect globalization, mobilities and policy-making at national and international levels. On the other hand, the succession of crisis show the importance of shifting societies to greener, more sustainable societies, supported for ever more sophisticated technologies. We are, therefore, facing a transition between Eras with all the transformative energy, but also with all the destructive power that transitions bring attached. How will this affect young people in the years to come? And how are younger generations prepared to face these changes worldwide? These and other questions will be discussed in this episode of NEETworks.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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School to work transitions should have as an end goal to achieve a decent job. Decent jobs depend on multiple institutional and social arrangements as well as on key individual factors. However, the definition of decent work seems to still overfocus on job conditions such as income. On the other hand, for younger generations, especially those from marginalized groups, decent jobs are hard to reach. What is decent work? What are the new layers of this concept? And how do major shifts in contemporary societies, based on the twin transition, influence young people’s prospects of finding a decent job? This and more on this episode.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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According to the Eurostat, in 2020, across the EU27 member-states, the proportion of NEETs was higher in rural regions when compared with the same rate in cities. More importantly, a substantial uneven NEET distribution by the degree of urbanization was evident in many Eastern countries such as Bulgaria or Romania or Southern countries such as Greece. In these countries, gaps between cities and rural areas ranged from 10 to more than 20 percentual points.
The research community is reacting slowly to this trend. A recent bibliometric review confirms that from 324 papers focusing on NEETs published on the Web of Science, between 2002 and 2021, only 16 focused on rural NEETs.
In 2021, the Rural NEET Youth Network published a special issue on the Youth & Society journal that includes this bibliometric review. How are spatialities being included in the understanding of role NEETs situation? What are the main differences among NEETs across countries and territories? And can research better inform policies for different types of territories? These and more questions are going to be discussed in this episode.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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Being a young person not in Employment or in Education and Training, a.k.a. NEETs is a risk factor leading to worst mental health. For instance, Berry and colleagues in 2018 found that NEETs reported more depressive symptoms than non-NEETs. Moreover, Basta and colleagues in 2019 found that older NEETs (aged 24 and above) showed more severe symptoms of anxiety and moderate/severe symptoms of depression. Some authors dispute, however, that being NEET is a risk factor for mental health issues, creating a myth that these youths are in a worst psychological condition. In any case, Rural NEETs struggle more to get access to mental healthcare services. How can their mental health needs be addressed? Can the digitalization of health care improve service provision in these regions? Are there pros and cons in digitalizing these health services for vulnerable young people? These and more questions are going to be discussed in this episode of NEETWorks.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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COVID-19 seems to have accelerated the need and demand for the digitalization of public services. On the other hand, international bodies such as the European Union are pushing forward for the improvement of citizens’ digital skills. For instance, by 2025, it is expected that the share of low-achieving eighth-graders in computer and information literacy should be less than 15%. How can digitalization support young people to achieve their educational goals? How can digital tools and skills contribute to ease the school to work transition? And is digitalization always a good thing for vulnerable young people? More on these topics on this episode.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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AS a COST Action, Rural NEET Youth Network is committed with involving more people in developing in-depth knowledge about rural young people, especially the most vulnerable ones.
Emerging, talented young researchers can help to move forward this aim across Europe in areas such as spatial mobility, young people’s social networks, or their transition from school to work in the countryside.
How can COST Actions support young researchers in developing their research careers? What are the tools available out there to help them excel? And How has the Rural NEET Youth Network manage to promote these goals, including in countries showing lower scientific intensity? This and more on this episode of NEETWorks.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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The Youth Guarantee is the flagship policy framework aiming at reducing the share of NEETs in the European Union. This EU initiative has recently been relaunched. The analysis of the Youth Guarantee implementation at the national level shows that the program has contributed to reduce the number of young people not in employment, nor in education and training by about about 3 percentual points, between 2011 and 2019. However, the results show contrasts between North and South and East and West countries, rural and urban areas and different NEETs profiles. In 2021, Rural NEET Youth Network published a special issue entitled "Strategies, policies, programs and projects for rural NEETs”. How can policies for NEETs be improved at the national level? Is there enough knowledge to inform these improvements? And how can decision-making be tailored to rural NEETs?
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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30.6% of the EU’s population lives in rural areas. According to the Eurostat, rural and remote areas have the lowest shares of the EU’s population in age groups below 50 years. Youth out-migration is one the key drivers of European rural areas ageing and brain-draining challenges. Youth mobility is, therefore, one of the key features to make rural communities more resilient.
In 2021, Rural NEET Youth Network published a special issue entitled "Lessons on Building More Sustainable Rural Societies: Youth and Mobility”. How can rural and urban areas become better connected to retain young people in rural areas? What are the factors shaping rural young people’s mobility? And how can policies support tackle young out-migration flows to uphold more resilient rural communities? These and other questions will be discussed in this episode of NEETWorks.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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Effective policies to address youth unemployment require horizontal coordination – between different governmental departments - as well as vertical coordination - between priorities placed at the European, national and regional levels. Unfortunately there is still a dominant, bureaucratic culture of policy-making silos, with only a few interconnections between education, employment or social welfare. This problem seems to be more challenging in Southern European countries such as Greece or Italy. In northern countries such as Denmark or Sweden policy-design for younger generations results more often in integrated services deliverance such as one-stop-shops, improving youth job seeking and employability. Moreover, broadband European policies, such as the Youth Guarantee struggle to be translated into meaningful programs at the national or the regional levels, due to shortage of on-the-ground resources or a mismatch between policy priorities and young people’s needs and expectations. New models of governance, such as the integrated model approach, can help to improve youth employment policies horizontal and vertical coordination. What is integrated governance? How is this model implemented? And what are its challenges and opportunities? Answers to this and more on this episode.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
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In 2020, about 2 million young people aged 15-29 years old were NEETs. 40% of them had lower educational levels, and only 11% were graduates. In 2019, 33% of the Italian NEETs’ were concentrated in Southern Italy, followed by Central Italy with 18.5% and Northern Italy with 14.1%. These figures reflect long and complex transitions from school to work in the country.
Why is that the proportion of new generations in the overall population is decreasing, while the social cost associated with them such as high unemployment rates or civic and social disengagement are increasing? What are the factors explaining the high levels of family dependence among young Italians? And why do NEETs share disparities between the North and the South of Italy are so big? This and much more on this episode.
(Contains excerpts of "Dream Come True": https://bit.ly/3iZdeMd , "Little Idea": https://bit.ly/3JW5LJV and "Think BIG": https://bit.ly/3J9Np7b , all by Scott Holmes Music, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0 )
