English  Français

Migration experience and school-to-work transition in a post-communist setting. A sequence analysis

Madalina-Elena Manea, Research Institute for the Quality of Life, Romanian Academy

Across Europe, changing socio-economic context in the last decades increased uncertainties in the transition to adulthood. Major disrupting events (e.g., the last economic crisis, the current pandemic) heighten the sense of insecurity, which reflects spikes in youth unemployment. However, in response, young people develop their own coping strategies. This paper asks about the influence of migration experience as one such strategy in configuring transitions from school to work and it has two aims. The first is to uncover patterns of transition from school to work among three generations and the second is to investigate the influence of migration experience on the configuration of these patterns. These goals are addressed by using sequence analysis followed by cluster analysis, and multinomial logistic regression. Examining data on returnees and non-migrants from the TEMPER survey in Romania, the paper looks at the succession of three types of activities from age 15 to 29: studying, working, and not studying or working. Four classes of trajectories are identified (medium or high education followed by employment; employment starting at the age of 15; and NEET). Results suggest that the odds of following these trajectories are different depending on family and personal resources, as well as migration status.

Keywords: Life course analysis, International migration, Children and youth, Demographic and social surveys

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 55. Life Course Approaches to the Transition to Adulthood