The rise in youth employment? Impact evaluation of COVID-19 consequences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15549/jeecar.v8i4.757Keywords:
COVID-19 consequences, Impact evaluation, Jobseekers, Youth UnemploymentAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has significant consequences in many areas and has largely contributed to rising unemployment in almost all countries. The situation is similar in Slovakia, where various degrees of shut-down measures have caused an inflow of newly unemployed people in all age groups. This article focuses on unemployed youth as a vulnerable and disadvantaged group of the working population, as starting a career during a pandemic is complicated or even impossible in some industries under these conditions. In this study, the real situation in Slovakia in 2020-2021 is compared with the development of the job market before the pandemic. The main contribution of the study is the quantification of the extent of the pandemic impact on unemployed youth, but also on other age groups; this evaluation can be considered very accurate given the counterfactual approach used. The results of this study can be used in practice to identify the most affected groups of the population and to implement policy measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the pandemic, and then to adjust the intensity and amount of allocated funds that will be needed to be spent to support the placement of young people into the labor market.
References
Almeida, F., & Santos, J. D. (2020). The effects of COVID-19 on job security and unemployment in Portugal. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 40(9/10), 995–1003. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-07-2020-0291 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-07-2020-0291
Al-Youbi, A. O., Al-Hayani, A., Rizwan, A., & Choudhry, H. (2020). Implications of COVID-19 on the Labor Market of Saudi Arabia: The Role of Universities for a Sustainable Workforce. Sustainability, 12(17), 7090. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177090 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12177090
Blustein, D. L., Duffy, R., Ferreira, J. A., Cohen-Scali, V., Cinamon, R. G., & Allan, B. A. (2020). Unemployment in the time of COVID-19: A research agenda. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119, 103436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103436 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103436
Danielova, K., & Lauko, V. (2014). Impact of the Economic Crisis on the Gender Wage Difference and Unemployment in Slovakia. Geographical Information, 18(1), 24–33. https://doi.org/10.17846/GI.2014.18.1.24-33 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17846/GI.2014.18.1.24-33
Djoumessi, Y. F. (2021). The adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the labor market in Cameroon. African Development Review, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12508 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8268.12508
Dvorak, M., Rovny, P., Grebennikova, V., & Faminskaya, M. (2020). Economic impacts of Covid-19 on the labor market and human capital. Terra Economicus, 18(4), 78–96. https://doi.org/10.18522/2073-6606-2020-18-4-78-96 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18522/2073-6606-2020-18-4-78-96
Dvoulety, O., & Lukes, M. (2016). Review of Empirical Studies on Self-Employment out of Unemployment: Do Self-Employment Policies Make a Positive Impact? International Review of Entrepreneurship, 14(3), 361–376.
Fialova, K., & Mysikova, M. (2021). Minimum Wage and Youth Employment in Regions of the Visegrád Countries. Eastern European Economics, 59(1), 82–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/00128775.2020.1816474 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00128775.2020.1816474
Flek, V., Hala, M., & Mysikova, M. (2018). Unemployment and age segmentation of the labor market. Politicka Ekonomie, 66(6), 709–731. https://doi.org/10.18267/j.polek.1227 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18267/j.polek.1227
Frondel, M., & Schmidt, C. M. (2005). Evaluating environmental programs: The perspective of modern evaluation research. Ecological Economics, 55(4), 515–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.12.013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2004.12.013
Galea, S., & Abdalla, S. M. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic, Unemployment, and Civil Unrest: Underlying Deep Racial and Socioeconomic Divides. JAMA, 324(3), 227–228. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.11132 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.11132
Graham, J., & Ozbilgin, M. (2021). Age, Industry, and Unemployment Risk During a Pandemic Lockdown (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3772576). Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3772576 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3772576
Greganova, R., & Pietrikova, M. (2017). Changes in Development of Regional Unemployment and Foreign Direct Investment in Conditions in Slovakia. Proceedings of the 20th International Colloquium on Regional Sciences, 147–154. https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.P210-8587-2017-18 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.P210-8587-2017-18
Churchill, B. (2021). COVID-19 and the immediate impact on young people and employment in Australia: A gendered analysis. Gender, Work & Organisation, 28(2), 783–794. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12563 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12563
Ibn-Mohammed, T., Mustapha, K. B., Godsell, J., Adamu, Z., Babatunde, K. A., Akintade, D. D., Acquaye, A., Fujii, H., Ndiaye, M. M., Yamoah, F. A., & Koh, S. C. L. (2021). A critical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy and ecosystems and opportunities for circular economy strategies. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 164, 105169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105169 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105169
ILO-OECD. (2020). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on jobs and incomes in G20 economies. International Labour Oraganization.
Ismayilzade, A. A., Guliyeva, S., Teymurova, V., Azizova, R., & Alishova, C. (2021). The impact of Covid-19 on the quality of human capital for the economic development of Azerbaijan. Journal of Eastern European and Central Asian Research (JEECAR), 8(1), 26–39. https://doi.org/10.15549/jeecar.v8i1.639 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15549/jeecar.v8i1.639
Kopacek, M., & Horackova, L. (2018). Young people and the labor market: A case study of regions in the Visegrad countries. Proceedings of the 20th International Colloquium on Regional Sciences, 78–85. https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.P210-8970-2018-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5817/CZ.MUNI.P210-8970-2018-9
Kruppe, T., & Lang, J. (2018). Labour market effects of retraining for the unemployed: The role of occupations. Applied Economics, 50(14), 1578–1600. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2017.1368992 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2017.1368992
Lemieux, T., Milligan, K., Schirle, T., & Skuterud, M. (2020). Initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Canadian labour market. Canadian Public Policy, 46(S1), S55–S65. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-049 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-049
Marinescu, I., Skandalis, D., & Zhao, D. (2021). The Impact of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation on Job Search and Vacancy Creation (Working Paper ?. 28567; Working Paper Series). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w28567 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3386/w28567
McGann, M., Murphy, M. P., & Whelan, N. (2020). Workfare redux? Pandemic unemployment, labour activation and the lessons of post-crisis welfare reform in Ireland. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 40(9/10), 963–978. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-07-2020-0343 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-07-2020-0343
Milani, F. (2021). COVID-19 outbreak, social response, and early economic effects: A global VAR analysis of cross-country interdependencies. Journal of Population Economics, 34(1), 223–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-020-00792-4 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00148-020-00792-4
Nemec, J. (2020). Government transition in the time of the COVID-19 crisis: Slovak case. International Journal of Public Leadership, 17(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPL-05-2020-0040 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPL-05-2020-0040
OECD. (2020a). Unemployment—Unemployment rate by age group—OECD Data. TheOECD. http://data.oecd.org/unemp/unemployment-rate-by-age-group.htm
OECD. (2020b). Unemployment—Youth unemployment rate—OECD Data. TheOECD. http://data.oecd.org/unemp/youth-unemployment-rate.htm
OECD. (2021). Youth unemployment rate. doi: 10.1787/c3634df7-en DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/c3634df7-en
O’Keeffe, P., Johnson, B., & Daley, K. (2021). Continuing the precedent: Financially disadvantaging young people in “unprecedented” COVID-19 times. Australian Journal of Social Issues, forthcoming article. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.152 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.152
Pelucha, M., Kveton, V., & Potluka, O. (2019). Using mixed method approach in measuring effects of training in firms: Case study of the European Social Fund support. Evaluation and Program Planning, 73, 146–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2018.12.008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2018.12.008
Potluka, O., Bruha, J., Spacek, M., & Vrbova, L. (2016). Counterfactual Impact Evaluation on EU Cohesion Policy Interventions in Training in Companies. Ekonomicky Casopis, 64(6), 575–595.
Privara, A. (2020). Labour market efficiency and emigration in Slovakia and EU neighbouring countries. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, forthcoming article, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2020.1858131 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2020.1858131
Radulescu, C. V., Ladaru, G.-R., Burlacu, S., Constantin, F., Ioan??, C., & Petre, I. L. (2021). Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Romanian Labor Market. Sustainability, 13(1), 271. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010271 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010271
Ranchhod, V., & Daniels, R. C. (2021). Labour market dynamics in South Africa at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. South African Journal of Economics, 89(1), 44–62. https://doi.org/10.1111/saje.12283 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/saje.12283
Song, L., & Zhou, Y. (2020). The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on the Global Economy: What Does It Take to Turn Crisis into Opportunity? China & World Economy, 28(4), 1–25 https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12349 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12349
Statistical office of the Slovak Republic. (2021). DATAcube. http://datacube.statistics.sk/
Stefanik, M. (2014). Estimating treatment effects of a training programme in Slovakia using propensity score matching. Ekonomicky Casopis, 62(6), 631–645.
Stefanik, M., Karasova, K., & Studena, I. (2020). Can supporting workplace insertions of unemployed recent graduates improve their long-term employability? Empirica, 47(2), 245–265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-018-9413-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-018-9413-y
Svabova, L., & Kramarova, K. (2021). An analysis of participation factors and effects of the active labour market measure Graduate practice in Slovakia – Counterfactual approach. Evaluation and Program Planning, 86, 101917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.101917 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.101917
Svabova, L., Metzker, Z., & Pisula, T. (2020). Development of Unemployment in Slovakia in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ekonomicko-manazerske spektrum, 14(2), 114–123. https://doi.org/10.26552/ems.2020.2.114-123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26552/ems.2020.2.114-123
Trivellato, U. (2011). Fifteen years of labour market regulations and policies in Italy: What have we learned from their evaluation? Statistica, 71(2), 167–187. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1973-2201/3610
von Wachter, T. (2020). Lost Generations: Long-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Crisis on Job Losers and Labour Market Entrants, and Options for Policy. Fiscal Studies, 41(3), 549–590. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12247 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12247
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The JEECAR journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright and publishing rights of their own manuscript without restrictions.
This journal applies the Creative Attribution Common License to works we publish, and allows reuse and remixing of its content, in accordance with a CC-BY 4.0 license.
Authors are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions — The author may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
The JEECAR Journal is committed to the editorial principles of all aspects of publication ethics and publication malpractice as assigned by the Committee on Public Ethics.
