The Youth Labour Market in Britain: The Role of Intervention

by B. M. Deakin

• ISBN13: 9780521553285
• ISBN10: 0521553288
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-02-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book assesses the role of government training and employment policies in the youth labour market in Britain. Based on extensive field research, it presents a comprehensive survey of this important and developing branch of labour economics. The author looks at the subject both historically and analytically, using an examination of human capital theory and the economic theory of training to provide a context for his research. Demographic, educational, economic and technological developments over time have greatly influenced the youth labour market, and Mr Deakin relates these changes to the effects of successive government training and employment schemes (such as YOP, TVEI and YTS/YT) on young people, employers and the national economy. He then compares these effects with the alternative no-policy position, and through this comparison detects an erratic policy-learning process which has important implications for future policy.

Table of Contents

List of tables	xi	(4)
Preface and acknowledgements	xv
1 Introduction	1	(19)
Investment in human capital	1	(4)
The economics of training	5	(7)
Features of the youth labour market	12	(2)
Broader macroeconomic considerations	14	(1)
Outline	15	(5)
2 Demographic structure, capacity and economic activity	20	(9)
Structure of populations	21	(2)
Demographic capacity, economic activity and participation	23	(1)
Population forecasts	23	(2)
Changes in demographic structure	25	(4)
3 Supply to the youth labour market	29	(7)
4 Vocational and educational training in historical perspective	36	(34)
Early government interventions to promote vocational training	36	(2)
Vocational education and training in the nineteenth century	38	(7)
Wartime training and employment	45	(2)
The inter-war period: the beginning of the end of laissez-faire	47	(9)
Training in the Second World War	56	(2)
The early post-war period, 1945-60	58	(5)
The end of `voluntarism'	63	(7)
5 Direct government interventions: early schemes	70	(12)
Recruitment Subsidy for School Leavers	73	(1)
Youth Employment Subsidy	74	(1)
Work Experience Programme	75	(2)
Youth Opportunities Programme	77	(5)
6 The development of the modern system of youth training	82	(6)
Youth unemployment	82	(3)
A new training initiative	85	(3)
7 The first stage in the vocational education and training sequence	88	(11)
Technical and Vocational Education Initiative	88	(4)
Compacts	92	(2)
Three routes to post-school education and training	94	(5)
8 Methodology of assessment	99	(8)
Microeconomic effects upon employment and employers	100	(2)
Strengths and weaknesses of these methods	102	(2)
Macroeconomic effects	104	(3)
9 An assessment of the economic effects of the Youth Training Scheme upon employment and employers	107	(20)
The terms of the Youth Training Scheme (YTS)	107	(1)
The absolute and relative scales of the YTS	108	(3)
The microeconomic effects of YTS upon employment and employers	111	(16)
10 Some macroeconomic effects of YTS	127	(8)
Methodology	127	(3)
Short-term macroeconomic effects of YTS	130	(2)
A balanced budget approach	132	(1)
Longer-term macroeconomic effects of YTS	133	(2)
11 The skill attainments of YTS trainees in relation to the demand for skilled labour	135	(13)
Educational background	135	(3)
Attainment of qualifications by YTS trainees and the general demand for skills from employers	138	(2)
Qualifications aimed at by YTS trainees	140	(2)
The supply of skills from the YTS in relation to the specific needs of employers	142	(2)
Changes in the demand for labour: an occupational analysis	144	(4)
12 The devolution of intervention and the movement towards quasi-markets	148	(9)
Devolution	148	(4)
Quasi-markets	152	(3)
The quasi-market for youth training services	155	(2)
13 Some critics of the government's youth training intervention	157	(11)
Lack of attainment of qualifications by YTS trainees	158	(5)
Reliance of YTS on free-market forces	163	(1)
The priority of policies	164	(2)
Structural and management problems of YT	166	(1)
Summary	167	(1)
14 Collaboration and opposition from trade unions	168	(16)
Collaboration	169	(1)
TUC policy	169	(5)
The breakdown of collaboration	174	(1)
Divisions between the unions	175	(6)
The extent of union opposition	181	(1)
Appendix: List of acronyms used to refer to trade unions in this chapter	182	(2)
15 Results and conclusions	184	(19)
Human capital theory and the economics of training	184	(2)
Quantitative obstacles to equilibrium in the youth labour market	186	(1)
Youth labour quality: historical perspectives	187	(1)
New policies of intervention	188	(1)
Youth labour market policies	189	(2)
Policy reviews and appraisals	191	(4)
Skill attainments	195	(2)
The devolution of government intervention	197	(1)
Opposition to government intervention	198	(1)
General conclusion on government intervention in the youth labour market	198	(5)
Appendix: Resource endowment	203	(6)
Land	203	(2)
Energy	205	(2)
Other natural resources	207	(1)
Engagement in export trade	207	(2)
Bibliography	209	(9)
Index	218