Young adults of the Great Recession: individual and historical times, present and future biographies

Abstract

Young people are particularly vulnerable to precarious labour. This story has been told by statistical data from the National Statistics Institute and Eurostat and by (official or otherwise) “last in, first out” policies. It happens in a context of increased access to higher education and qualification levels that, together with the changes in the labour market and the effects of the recession, contribute to disappointed expectations of social mobility based on educational attainment. Young people find themselves caught between the goals of survival, work and a career. The new, less visible mass manifestations of “non-extreme” social exclusion delay and seriously constrain the transition to adulthood. This paper provides evidence, based on 52 interviews with young adults and a selection of 3 cases, for the political and statistical invisibility of these new manifestations of precariousness.