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In spite of superficial similarities in the levels of unemployment this paper reveals major differences in the structure of the youth labour markets in Canada and Britain. It argues that labour market segmentation theory by according primacy to such factors as product markets, industrial structures and technology, can provide only a partial explanation for the observed difference. A more adequate explanation will have to take greater cognizance of the interaction between political, cultural and social factors which are seen to exert an independent effect on the structure of youth labour markets.

Public skills policy in most market economies in the last forty years made one repeated error, time and again. We seem to be unable to learn from those mistakes. Consistently public policies view a wide range of economic and social issues e.g. low productivity, low-skilled jobs, low wage, inequality and in-work poverty as the consequence of skills deficits and a lack of qualifications held by individual workers. Whilst mis-diagnosing the source of the problems and failing to deliver any effective change, public skills policies continue with a policy prescription of 'more skills' and 'more degrees'. If we have not solved the problems with this decade-old approach, why should the same medicine work this time? This book examines the role of public skills policy from a completely different perspective. It starts by challenging the lack of a systematic analysis of the link between skills utilisation and business strategy, and provides a new model for fresh thinking. The book extends this theoretical analysis to examine the implications for the sectoral approach to skills development as a more effective form of public policy. -- from back cover

Als bedeutendste Schulen in der Erklärung von Jugendarbeitslosigkeit gelten in Großbritannien die Zyklikalischen und die Strukturralisten. Die Zyklikalisten sehen in der Höhe der Gesamtnachfrage den entscheidenden Faktor für die Entstehung von Arbeitslosigkeit, die Strukturralisten machen darüber hinausgehende Faktoren verantwortlich. Nach ihren Auffassungen existieren spezifische Nachfragebedingungen für Jugendliche und erwachsene Arbeitskräfte. In diesem Beitrag wird die Validität einiger dieser Theorien geprüft. (IAB)