IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v110y2020ics0190740919308199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Earning, learning, and access to support: The role of early engagement in work, employment skills development and supportive relationships in employment outcomes for vulnerable youth in New Zealand

Author

Listed:
  • Sanders, Jackie
  • Munford, Robyn
  • Boden, Joe
  • Johnston, William

Abstract

Youth exposed to high levels of adversity during childhood face major challenges in achieving normative milestones such as securing employment. Effective support holds the potential to significantly change the long-term outcomes for these youth, but there is debate about what programme components are most effective in scaffolding these youth into work. This paper presents findings from a mixed-methods longitudinal study that collected survey data for three years followed by qualitative work with a representative subgroup of youth (n = 107) for a further three years. It explores a subset of data to identify factors associated with positive employment outcomes for these youth (aged 12–17 at study entry). A particular concern was to identify factors that were amenable to intervention in order to provide professionals and policy-makers with evidence concerning the most important programme components and policy settings. Factors that made the most difference to the employment outcomes for this ethnically diverse cohort of vulnerable youth were a history of employment, employment-related skills and access to ongoing support. In addition, male gender and older age played a role in these outcomes. Commonly identified risk factors (substance use, offending) did not play a role, neither did ethnicity, family nor neighbourhood characteristics nor individual strengths. The importance of early exposure to workplaces, opportunities to develop employment skills, and access to ongoing support from at least one positive adult, are key factors for programmes supporting the employment transitions of vulnerable youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanders, Jackie & Munford, Robyn & Boden, Joe & Johnston, William, 2020. "Earning, learning, and access to support: The role of early engagement in work, employment skills development and supportive relationships in employment outcomes for vulnerable youth in New Zealand," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:110:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919308199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740919308199
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104753?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pecora, Peter J. & Kessler, Ronald C. & O'Brien, Kirk & White, Catherine Roller & Williams, Jason & Hiripi, Eva & English, Diana & White, James & Herrick, Mary Anne, 2006. "Educational and employment outcomes of adults formerly placed in foster care: Results from the Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(12), pages 1459-1481, December.
    2. Metzler, Marilyn & Merrick, Melissa T. & Klevens, Joanne & Ports, Katie A. & Ford, Derek C., 2017. "Adverse childhood experiences and life opportunities: Shifting the narrative," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 141-149.
    3. Gates, Lauren B. & Pearlmutter, Sue & Keenan, Kat & Divver, Caitlin & Gorroochurn, Prakash, 2018. "Career readiness programming for youth in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 152-164.
    4. Pinkerton, John, 2011. "Constructing a global understanding of the social ecology of leaving out of home care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(12), pages 2412-2416.
    5. Silvia Mendolia & Ian Walker, 2015. "Youth unemployment and the effect of personality traits," Working Papers 84097960, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    6. Ose, Solveig Osborg & Jensen, Chris, 2017. "Youth outside the labour force — Perceived barriers by service providers and service users: A mixed method approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 148-156.
    7. Miller, Cynthia & Porter, Kristin E., 2007. "Barriers to employment among out-of-school youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 572-587, May.
    8. Lifshitz, Chen Chana, 2017. "Fostering employability among youth at-risk in a multi-cultural context: Insights from a pilot intervention program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 20-34.
    9. Silvia Mendolia & Ian Walker, 2015. "Youth unemployment and personality traits," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-26, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tucker, Gavin, 2023. "Special educational needs and youth justice: How effective is the code of practice at supporting the resettlement population? A conceptual review," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    2. Patel, Leila & Graham, Lauren & Chowa, Gina, 2020. "Evidence of non-economic indicators as markers of success for youth in youth employability programs: Insights from a South African study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Refaeli, Tehila, 2017. "Narratives of care leavers: What promotes resilience in transitions to independent lives?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-9.
    2. Ondřej Dvouletý & Martin Lukeš & Mihaela Vancea, 2020. "Individual-level and family background determinants of young adults’ unemployment in Europe," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 389-409, May.
    3. Gorman, Emma & Harmon, Colm & Mendolia, Silvia & Staneva, Anita & Walker, Ian, 2019. "The Causal Effects of Adolescent School Bullying Victimisation on Later Life Outcomes," Working Papers 2019-05, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    4. Naccarato, Toni & Brophy, Megan & Courtney, Mark E., 2010. "Employment outcomes of foster youth: The results from the Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Foster Youth," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 551-559, April.
    5. Lindner, Abigail Rose & Hanlon, Ryan, 2024. "Outcomes of youth with foster care experiences based on permanency outcome – Adoption, aging out, long-term foster care, and reunification: A systematic review," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Szabó-Morvai, Ágnes & Kiss, Hubert János & Károlyi, Róbert, 2023. "Kontrollhely Magyarországon - egy reprezentatív felmérés eredményei [Locus of Control in Hungary: The results of a representative survey]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 847-871.
    7. Sek-yum Ngai, Steven & Cheung, Chau-Kiu & Mo, Jianhong & Wang, Lin & Ng, Yuen-hang & Wang, Pinqiao, 2023. "Career interventions and social well-being among non-engaged youth: Examining the mediating effects of career competency," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    8. Daniel Gladwell & Gurleen Popli & Aki Tsuchiya, 2022. "Predictors of becoming not in education, employment or training: A dynamic comparison of the direct and indirect determinants," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 185(S2), pages 485-514, December.
    9. Leckie, G. & Maragkou, K., 2024. "Tracing the Origins of Gender Bias in Teacher Grades," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2457, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    10. Emma Gorman & Colm Harmon & Silvia Mendolia & Anita Staneva & Ian Walker, 2021. "Adolescent School Bullying Victimization and Later Life Outcomes," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 83(4), pages 1048-1076, August.
    11. Heller-Sahlgren, Gabriel, 2023. "Lifelong learning and employment outcomes: evidence from Sweden," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115171, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    12. Alfredo Alvarado & Belén Conde & Rafael Novella & Andrea Repetto, 2020. "NEETs in Latin America and the Caribbean: Skills, Aspirations, and Information," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(8), pages 1273-1307, November.
    13. Juliane Hennecke, 2024. "The independent woman—locus of control and female labor force participation," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 329-357, March.
    14. Mina, Wasseem, 2022. "Female Youth Unemployment in the GCC Countries: A Political Economy Perspective," MPRA Paper 121137, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Harwick, Robin M. & Lindstrom, Lauren & Unruh, Deanne, 2017. "In their own words: Overcoming barriers during the transition to adulthood for youth with disabilities who experienced foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 338-346.
    16. Jeongae You & Woosuk Kim & Hyun-Suk Lee & Minjung Kwon, 2021. "Best Content Standards in Sports Career Education for Adolescents: A Delphi Survey of Korean Professional Views," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, June.
    17. Stargel, Lauren E. & Easterbrooks, M. Ann, 2020. "Diversity of adverse childhood experiences among adolescent mothers and the intergenerational transmission of risk to children's behavior problems," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
    18. Kim, Youngmi & Lee, Haenim & Park, Aely, 2020. "Adverse childhood experiences, economic hardship, and obesity: Differences by gender," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    19. Narendorf, Sarah C. & Brydon, Daphne M. & Santa Maria, Diane & Bender, Kimberly & Ferguson, Kristin M. & Hsu, Hsun-Ta & Barman-Adhikari, Anamika & Shelton, Jama & Petering, Robin, 2020. "System involvement among young adults experiencing homelessness: Characteristics of four system-involved subgroups and relationship to risk outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    20. Cheng, Zhiming & Guo, Liwen & Smyth, Russell & Tani, Massimiliano, 2022. "Childhood adversity and energy poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:110:y:2020:i:c:s0190740919308199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.