Future employment prospects bleak

Europe's young people are facing a bleak future with a fragmented and precarious labour market that is only just beginning to be appreciated in the West, according to a paper to be presented this Thursday to the European Sociological Association's conference in Turin. Current high levels of youth unemployment are often seen as temporary, with post-recession growth expected to lead to an upturn in the number of jobs and a fall in unemployment. Professor Andy Furlong from the University of Glasgow argues that grounds for optimism about jobs for young people are, at best, shaky, with the future most likely to be marked by precarious forms of working. The paper argues that there is good evidence to suggest that many of the conditions currently faced by young people are not temporary but reveal 'emerging contours of the post-recession economy of late modernity'. Professor Furlong argues that the trend towards non-standard forms of working, such as zero hours contracts, predate the recession and shows that future growth in the labour market is predicted to occur in occupations where precarious forms of working are most common. Furlong also argues that employers will resist any pressure to abandon a highly profitable employment model that provides them with great flexibility and helps them sidestep traditional worker rights. Professor Andy Furlong said "The statistics are frightening when you look across Western Europe.