This open access book challenges international policy 'groupthink' about lifelong learning. Adult learning -- too long a servant of business competitiveness -- should be reimagined as central to democratic society. Young adults, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, engage more in education and training, and learn more day-to-day at work, if…

Young people around the world are struggling to enter the labour market. In some OECD countries, one in four 16-29 year-olds is neither employed nor in education or training. The OECD Skills Outlook 2015 shows how improving the employability of youth requires a comprehensive approach. While education, social, and labour market policies have key…

This book examines the transition of young adults with disabilities from school to tertiary education and work. It analyses the policy experiences of several OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] countries and identifies recent trends in access to education and employment as well as best transition policies and practices.…

Pressing Forward: Increasing and Expanding Rigor and Relevance in America's High Schools is organized to place secondary education, specifically the goals of preparing young adults to be college and career ready, in contemporary perspective, emphasizing the changing global economy and trends in policy and practice. High school students must be…

This book follows the experiences of a group of young African Caribbean British women as they leave school to enter the world of work, in an attempt to understand processes of inequality. Study methodology included a longitudinal survey approach and a school-based ethnography. The study population consisted of 62 young women aged 15 to 19 years…

A comparison study of the school-to-work transitions of young people aged 16-19 in Germany and England was followed up several years later when the former subjects were in their early twenties. Research was conducted through interviews, case studies, and studies of labor market trends. The analysis of the transition of the young people studied…

This book analyzes forces fraying the social fabric of many countries, and the reasons why some Western countries have been more successful than others in addressing these trends. Part 1, "Poverty, Income Inequality, and Labor Market Insecurity: A Comparative Perspective," includes (1) "Markets and States: Poverty Trends and…

Drawing on empirical research and theoretical writings, this book examines how concepts such as risk society and individualization may be used in the field of youth studies. It explores young peoples' identities, youth cultures, and a multiplicity of ways in which risk can be understood and influence youth policy agendas in the future. Chapter 1,…

The effectiveness of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 was critiqued. WIA was praised for providing an avenue for communication among state and local agencies during development of workforce development plans, potentially allowing individuals to choose from a wider array of services and service providers, spreading the concept of one-stop…

This book contains 13 papers on labor market and welfare reform, with special emphasis on the demand for low-wage workers, wages and job characteristics in the less skilled labor market, public politics to increase employment and earnings of less skilled workers, and the impact of welfare reform. The following papers are included: "The Labor…

This book contains 17 papers devoted to the following four aspects of the transition to adulthood: effects of alterations in the structure of opportunity; effects of prior experiences in the family; effects of prior experience in the workplace; and career development and marriage formation during a period of rising inequality. The following papers…

The labor market prospects of out-of-school young adults and options for improving the employment and earnings potential of all young adults were examined. The following issues were among those considered: demographic and social factors affecting young adults' employment prospects; employment trends and labor market problems in the United States…

This document contains nine papers devoted to the labor market problems faced by out-of-school and other disadvantaged young people in the United States and policy options and strategies for addressing those problems. The papers update the data on out-of-school young adults, review the lessons learned from past youth programs and policies,…