Young graduate jobs in Southern European countries: Persistent patterns during and after the economic recession

Abstract

The Great Recession led to unfavourable labour market conditions for young people in Southern European countries. We compare the jobs of young graduates (⩽29 years) in Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain (GIPS), during recession (2011), at the beginning of recovery (2014), and in the expansion phase (2017, 2019). A fuzzy clustering of European Labour Force Survey data pointed to a taxonomy of three types of jobs: Quasi-Standard, Insecure, and Precarious. A subsequent regression analysis allowed us to explore the drivers of job typologies and showed that institutional settings and higher education expansion help understand the job quality of young graduates in GIPS.