Las tensiones en el barrio Santa Isabel

Source: European Labour Force Survey, online database (Eurostat 2010)

In the past decades, as the economic crisis gradually deepened, several questions have arisen in both professional and public policy contexts in connection with this significantly extended and study/consumption-focused life cycle. When do these young people gain work experience? When does working become a skill for them? When do they start producing value so that they can contribute to financing their consumption? Do these young people in their twenties work at all, or are they just waiting for their adult life to start (which they will find to be increasingly hard to integrate into because of their lack of adequate experience, skills and connections)? Moreover, integrating this generation into the world of labour is a fundamental issue with respect to the society’s ability to sustain itself. In Hungary, for example, the part of the population aged 15 to 29 numbered 1 million 880 thousand (1,880,000) in 2010. This group constituted 27.8% of the population aged 15–64 that represented the potential labour force supply (KSH 2011 p. 2).

The generation’s entry into the world of labour is hindered, in addition to the economic and employment difficulties, or exactly as a result of these, by a phenomenon known as quarterlife crisis, which was first described by Alexandra Robbins & Abby Wilner in their 2001 book Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties. According to the authors, this phenomenon can mainly be observed among university/college students. After the time they had spent at university or college, which had been characterised by relatively few constraints, career- starters in their late twenties to early thirties have difficulties adapting to the strict rules of a workplace and become distressed due to performance expectations as well as to the abundance of opportunities and all the doubts deriving from them. The first-generation of young intellectuals are especially considered to be at risk, since they do not have anyone who could provide them with a model and help their progress through their connections. Typical symptoms of this crisis are procrastination, aimlessness, drawing out higher educational studies for as long as possible, and shying away from work (Robbins & Wilner 2001).

In spite of what we have outlined above, the labour market position of degree holders compared to the non-graduate job seekers is relatively favourable. However, with the unemployment, continuously rising1 _{among graduates, the widely held view that young people with a degree can} easily find employment is not accurate anymore.

The reason for this is that since more than 40 % of those in their late twenties hold a higher- education degree, then the work experience gained and the employee and the practical skills acquired during one’s studies play an important role in the competition for the entry into the labor market. For this generation, a degree is a necessary but not a sufficient requirement to enter the labour market. When competitive interviews for a job opening are carried out, the employers always ask about additional activities and jobs the candidates engaged in during their studies. The lifecycle model that was developed based on traditional analyses of mobility – according to which the cycle of employment begins after the cycle of training ends – is not valid anymore under these changed circumstances, and it is not a profitable strategy for young people participating in higher education. The basis of successful labour market integration is a new model which emphasises working while studying.

THEGRADUALTRANSITIONTHEORY

Research on transitions between stages of life – especially the study of regularities characterising the transition from youth to adulthood – has again become the focus of research in youth sociology since the mid-90s2_{. The researchers’ interest can be explained by the fact that young people’s life} experiences and future perspectives have become more and more complex by the end of the 20th century, and therefore the boundaries between the life cycles are not as clear-cut as they used to be around the middle of the last century. “Instead of taking a series of plan able steps, writes Kálmán Gábor, when they enter the world of labour, after having completed their education or when they leave the family they were born in and start their own family, young people today spend more time in an extended stage of youth, where they do not have a job but are not entirely out of work either. The short period of courtship and education before settling in a family and finding a job, respectively, has been replaced by an extended period, which includes education, training, the world of part-time and casual jobs and movement between different households and connections. These steps are always reversible, and the final goal is not really clear either.” (Gábor 2009, p. 67)

The divide that had characterised the transition from childhood to adulthood and from school education to the workplace belongs to the past; today the world of labour is also characterised by gradual transitions and a gradual accumulation of experience. Ulrich Beck was the first to draw attention to this phenomenon in his book Risikogesellschaft, where he demonstrated the transformation of biography patterns. According to Beck’s definition, there are ‘normal’ and ‘choice’ biography approaches (1986, p. 217). The essence of the concept of a ‘normal’ biography is that the transition to adulthood is typically an institutionalized transition consisting of subsequent predetermined phases, whereas in the case of a ‘choice’ biography there are no clear stages; instead the latter is characterized by choices and parallelisms, and the individual’s decisions and responsibility are crucial.

Beck’s theory was further developed by Du Bois-Reymond, when, analysing the results of her research which had been carried out at the end of the 90s, she pointed out that these biography models can be linked to the social status. In her view, the ‘choice’ model is a typical feature of the upper class and mainly men, whereas the transition from youth to adulthood among young people from the lower middle class and the working class usually follows the ‘normal’ biography model. According to her, this duality is determined by “the typical paradox of modern life: Although (western) societies provide more options to choose from, modern (young) people are forced to reflect on the available options and justify their decisions. They might also get frustrated 2 Th is research includes, among others, Zinnecker’s 1992 study about the transition to a new age of civilization and about the situation of young people in this context; Chisholm’s research (1997) on young people in Great Britain, or Wyn and Dwyer’s (1998) fi ve-stage typology of life-patterns; fi nally, among Hungarian researchers, we have to mention Kálmán Gábor’s theoretical and empirical studies (1992, 2006, 2009, 2012).

because they realize that there are many options available; perhaps they do not feel ready to make a good choice, or perhaps they would like to make a choice but are prevented from doing so.” (Du Bois-Reymond 1998, p. 282) This is the reason why the lower social classes adhere to the ‘normal’ biography model, whereas the members of the higher social groups can take advantage of the benefits of the ‘choice’ model.

In line with the above, our research examined, on the one hand, which model the students participating in higher education today follow as a rule. How typical is a gradual transition into the world of labour, a parallel co-existence between work and study, and the presence of the ‘choice’ model? If this model is present, can the social differences posited by Du Bois-Reymond with regard to the choice of the models be confirmed? What is it that determines whether a student is working or not during their studies: does the student’s double identity (student and worker) develop due to economic pressures, i.e. because they are forced to earn their living, or are we dealing with a ‘choice’ biography linked to the lifestyle of the higher social classes, as it was formulated by Du Bois-Reymond; or in other words, is working while studying part of a conscious career plan?

In analysing students’ work experience, we were also interested in whether there were differences between the students of individual countries involved in the research with respect to the manner they gain work experience.

The analysis is based on the database of the HERD 2012 research project of the Center for Higher Educational Research and Development (CHERD) at the University of Debrecen, as part of which 2728 students of higher educational institutions in three countries (Romania, Hungary and Ukraine) participated in a questionnaire survey in 2012.

STUDENTS’ WORKEXPERIENCE

When we tried to identify the biography models defined by Beck, we considered young people’s employment and work experience at a relatively early stage of their life as particularly important among the structural factors that have an effect on these types. In the course of our research, we analysed, as a first step, what proportion of the participating students possessed work experience, what kind of experience it was, and when they had acquired it. We assumed that work experience significantly determines the success of job-seeking, it has a positive impact on employability, improves the ability and skill to work, and provides opportunities to realize the full potential of the ‘choice’ biography model.

“In Denmark, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA, 30 to 40% of teenage students today are working while studying. This intention is less observable among teenagers in Austria, the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Germany.” (Mihály 2009, p.10) In Hungary, according to the 2006 labour force survey data, 4% of the population aged 15 to 24 worked during their studies, most of them on seasonal jobs during school holidays (OECD 2008).

There are some European countries where the habit of young people taking up employment during their studies is more popular already in their teenage years. Fehér (2009) distinguishes two types of teenage employment. She counts Austria, Germany and Switzerland in the first type, where the frequency of employment lies in the peculiarities of the educational systems. In these countries, says the author, a practice (internship) period is included in the later years of secondary professional education. Thus, students’ entry into employment happens almost automatically. At the same time, open labour market employment of teenagers is not typical. In the other type of countries, open labour market employment is high among students. Students mainly take part- time jobs (e.g. Netherlands, Denmark), where working represents a supplementary income and is not connected to the line of profession being acquired by the student.

According to the data of the HERD research project with regard to teenage employment, the countries we have examined are closer to the second model (at least based on the responses given by the interviewed students in the Hungarian and Romanian institutions of higher education located in regions close to the border between the two countries). Out of the 2728 students questioned as part of the project, 1289 (47.3%) worked during school holidays while they were in secondary school3_{, 1094 (40.1%) worked on the family farm, and 484 of them (17.15%) earned} income during the school term.4 _{We found 109 students among them who stopped working} later on, during their university years. Only 746 respondents (26.3%) stated that they had not worked at all during their secondary school education (See Table 1). The largest proportion of secondary school students worked during school holidays; compared to them, the number and proportion of workers had scarcely grown by the time they had become university students (plus 101 persons, 7.3%). The family farms represented the second largest area where regular work was carried out, predominantly by secondary school students living in villages. 33.1% of the secondary school students living in villages work regularly on their family farm while 25% of them work only occasionally. As opposed to this, barely 12.9% of the secondary school students living in the capital work regularly and 25.8% work occasionally on the family farm. Secondary- school students living in the capital stand out in respect to seasonal work carried out during holidays (54.8%). At the same time, only one-third of secondary school students living in cities, small towns and villages have holiday jobs (county boroughs 32.2%, cities 35%, and villages 30.5%). It seems that the divide between the capital and the rest of the country with respect to the labour market already strongly limits the employment opportunities of young people while they are still in secondary school.

Among those who work we find students attending Ukrainian institutions and working on the family farms or taking part in voluntary activities during their secondary school years in a bigger proportion than Hungarian students, who prefer paid holiday jobs. In this respect, they are ahead of the two other countries’ students, but they fall behind their neighbours with regard to all other forms of work.

Teenagers’ work was only significantly less frequent than university/college students’ work in the case of work carried out during the school terms. For example, there are 217 students (8%) in the sample who had worked regularly during secondary school but did not participate anymore in any work activities during their university years; and there also are 52 people who had worked regularly during secondary school, but only occasionally after they had become university students5_.

Summarizing the data, we can state that working while studying plays an important role already during secondary school. Almost three-quarters of the secondary school age group6 _{have acquired}

work experience, though they gain most of this experience on the family farm; usually, they only are present in the market of income-earning activities during the school holidays. Whether a student is involved in the working activity the nature of the work being carried out is substantially influenced by the country and the type of municipality the respondent lives in during his or her secondary school years.

3 As part of the questionnaire survey the responding students talked retrospectively about their secondary school years as well. Th e study data regarding secondary school students that we present are based on the processing of the relevant questions of the questionnaire. With regard to the interpretation of the data related to secondary school students, it is advisable to keep in mind that it is not the whole secondary school population that is being characterised, but only a specifi c segment of it, whose members all continued their studies at universities/ colleges after having left secondary school. Nevertheless, we believe that comparing the two age groups is worthwhile and the results are remarkable.

4 Since the respondents were allowed to choose several answers, there were some students who participated in two or even three forms of work. Here we wanted to show the frequency of each form individually.

5 As the sample includes both university and college students, the correct phrasing would always be ‚university and college students’. Regardless, for the sake of brevity, they will be referred to as university students or just students.

Summarizing the results with regard to the models under examination, we find that the ‘choice’ biography model defined by Beck is less present during secondary school, since work activities carried out specifically in parallel to studying during the school term are typical of just 22.4% of the young people. The ‘normal’ cyclical model is much more strongly represented. The latter draws up a cyclical career path, with alternating cycles of studying, working, and studying again, for young people even when they are already on the verge of adulthood, or when they would already be acting as producers had they lived in a traditional society. The group of students belonging to the Ukrainian sub-sample is exceptional in this respect: they work on the family farm continuously, but this labour is part of the informal economy, the young people do not carry out this work as a way to earn income directly, and in most cases this activity is not related to their later profession. Calculated with logistical regression, the odds ratio of a Hungarian student having worked on the family farm during their secondary school years is 0.195 compared to the earlier (secondary school) work activity of a Ukrainian student, while this value in the case of a Romanian student is 0.517.7 _{Thus, regarding the Hungarian economy (at least in the catchment area of the observed} institutions of higher education), it is significantly less probable, compared to the neighbouring countries, for a young person to gain work experience on the family farm before their university/ college years. They are much more dependent on the opportunities in the open labour market to gain experience; if the latter is shrinking, their range of opportunities becomes inadequate.

Table 1: Work experience during the university/college years

Romania Hungary Ukraine

during secon dary school during the univer sity/ college years during secondary school during the univer sity/ college years during secon dary school during the university/ college years The proportion of working students (%)

Worked during

holidays 48.9 55.5 53.2 657.2 35.5 55.7

Had a paid job

during school term 22.4 43.6 17.5 38.7 10.3 26.7

Worked on the family farm 54.0 56.0 30.7 29.9 69.4 66.0 Participated in unpaid, voluntary work 27.0 32.6 15.7 20.4 32.7 36.2

Source: HERD database 2012, Count=2728

7 In our logit model, the dependent variable was working on the family farm, whereas the explanatory variable involved was the country in which the institution in question is located (from among the three countries examined in the Partium region). Th e base of comparison was represented by the participation of those students, who attended a Ukrainian institution, in the working activity on the family farm. Th us, we calculated the odds in relation to them.