Study blows hole in governments’ lauding of ‘qualifications’
The labour market is exacerbating social inequalities among young people. A study released today blows a hole in various governments’ laudings of the importance of university/ academic qualifications, stressing that the increase in Portuguese society of young people going through higher education is not having the expected social uplift effect.
“What is most disturbing about this study is that it shows a structural inequality among young people, suggesting that they differ in the labour market according to their class status,” ISCTE researcher Renato Miguel do Carmo, who coordinated the work, tells Lusa.
It is based on social status that young people “experience the world of work differently” and are exposed to “varying degrees” of unemployment, social unprotection and job insecurity.
“Parents’ educational qualifications are attributes that not only generate social differentiation, but also strong levels of inequality among young people,” says the document presenting the study “Young People and Labour in Portugal – Inequalities, (Un)Protection and the Future“.
The majority of young people from families with fewer resources, especially in the interior of the country, are limited to “poorly paid jobs and more precarious employment”, which makes them more dependent on family and friends.
Renato Miguel do Carmo, coordinator of the Inequalities Observatory, notes that greater access to diplomas “has not broken the reproduction of the social situation of origin“.
The survey carried out by a team of researchers identified a large number of young people (63%) who had gone through periods of unemployment without any social protection or institutional response.
The results gave rise to a book, to be published next week, in which two policy lines are proposed: “extending the welfare state to this fringe of the population” and increasing wages and social protection in employment.
As well as social origin, gender also affects entry into the labour market, with women earning “significantly less than men”, which means that many need to have more than one job.
As a rule, according to the researchers, a male university graduate earns more than a woman with a master’s degree or doctorate.
“The labour market highlights the gender inequality that exists in Portugal, rewarding men with higher salaries, even when compared to women with the same level of education,” said Inês Tavares, a researcher at ISCTE and co-author of the book, quoted in a press release.
In general terms, those surveyed who fit the “integrated and protected” profile live mostly in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (58%).”Each territorial area loses weight as it moves away from the more urban territories and closer to the more peripheral ones.”
For the researcher, wage disparities and contractual and social protection asymmetries that the Portuguese labour market is producing “contribute to the increase and reproduction of various social inequalities”.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, the study’s coordinator emphasised that many young people have to “resort to various activities” in order to have a reasonable level of income and that gender inequalities are still “very marked”, even among the younger generations.
“The majority of young people who have been unemployed have not received unemployment benefit. There is a need for a political response here,” he added, considering that the youngest are the ones who have suffered the most from the crises.
The conclusions of this study come at a time when the International Monetary Fund has also warned Portugal’s government that plans to reduce income tax payments for the under-35s may not dissuade young people from emigrating to find a better lifestyle, and could put the country’s finances at risk. ND
Source material: LUSA
