Constant job uncertainty for Italian graduates
For a large number of young Italians, fixed-term contract basically means long-term instability. On the once too rigid Italian job market, flexibility has become the norm. According to the National Statistics Institute (Italian), one employee in four is on a fixed-term contract i.e. 2.5 million employees. This applies to one employee in two in the service sector. We could assume that this would allow young people to access the world of work more easily, a sort of trial period before a permanent contract…The reality is somewhat different. According to the survey institute EURISPES, two thirds of those in insecure positions have never known anything other than fixed-term contracts. 60% of employees aged 26 to 39 are in this position. According to EURISPES, 83% of people in unstable employment at the time of the survey are university graduates and 56% holding a Masters have only ever known fixed-term contracts. Three quarters of those on fixed-term contracts earn less than 1 000 euros per month. This instability has important social consequences:
Only 6.5% of non-permanent workers have children. Only 10% are married or in cohabitation. Half of them have difficulty leaving home. According to ISTAT, the number of young people over the age of 30 who still live with their parents has increased by 25% in ten years to almost 40% today. Seven fixed-term workers in ten state difficulties in getting a mortgage or housing as it is impossible for them to provide proof of regular monthly income.
In Spain: Graduates in a state of permanent instability
In an article featured in the daily “el pais” entitled “condemned to 1 000 euros” is the story of a 27 year old woman living in the centre of Barcelona, working for an advertising agency.
“I am a mille-euriste. The “mille euriste” is a young graduate who speaks foreign languages, holds masters, PhDs, work experience…and yet earns no more than 1 000 euros. They spend more than a third of their salary on rent, because they like to live in the city. They don’t put money aside, they do not own property, they have no car, no children and live from one day to the next…Sometimes it’s fun, but after a while it becomes tiresome…” The article specifies that the writer lives with a 24 year old and two 29 year olds. None of them earn enough to rent an apartment alone. According to Euridyce (information network on education in Europe), only 40% of higher education graduates in Spain have a job matching their level of studies, and unemployment stands at 11.5% for graduates aged 25-34, one of the highest rates in Europe (the average is around 6.5%).
In France: young people against the first employment contract
Successive legislative amendments to employment law which has existed for twenty years have created a two-tier job market (stable jobs on one side, unstable jobs on the other) which has not prevented significant pockets of unemployment, for young people in particular. 22% are unemployed (while the national average across all age groups has risen to 9.6%) and two non-qualified young people in 5 have no job. France holds one of the worst scores in Europe with an unemployment rate of 22% for those under 26, while it stands at 12% in the UK and 15% in Germany.
In France, the vote for a first employment contract (CPE) by parliament has provoked wild opposition from unions and students. In fact, in the unstable environment experienced by young people, the CPE proposes a sort of trial period of two years before securing a job. It is a type of open-ended contract especially for those under 26. Contrary to the title, an employee can very well be on this type of contract without it being their first job. As with the CNE, this contract comes with a two year “consolidation period.” This notably allows the employer to let the employee go during this period without having to provide reasons for dismissal.
