Causes of variations in labour market outcomes for young people facing marginalisation: Literature Review

What is the issue?

There is no generally agreed upon definition of the term 'marginalised' or 'disadvantaged youth’. Marginalisation can be understood as a result of a process in which some people are left behind, intentionally or inadvertently. The Youth Futures Foundation (YFF), an independent, not-for-profit organisation, aims to improve employment outcomes for young people from marginalised backgrounds.

Marginalisation of youth in the labour market may be associated with two groups of factors:

• Individual factors, such as personal characteristics, family background or life experiences
• Contextual factors, such as local labour market characteristics, policy and institutional frameworks.

How are we helping?

Youth Futures commissioned RAND Europe to conduct exploratory research that:

• Identifies key differences between the labour market outcomes for young people who face different kinds of social and economic marginalisation in the UK
• Explores explanations for the causes of these differences, through a literature review
• Sense-tests emerging explanations, definitions and other findings with young people, practitioners, and other experts on youth employment

RAND Europe will carry out a literature review to examine and explore causes of variations in employment outcomes for young people facing marginalisation. Key research questions are:

• How do employment outcomes for young people vary?
• How do these variations relate to contextual factors?
• What explanations are advanced for the causes of identified variations?
• How can we define ‘marginalisation’ or types of marginalisation?

This review will use rapid evidence assessments and a meta-ethnographic approach to synthesising the qualitative and mixed methods literature.