The Nature of Youth Employment

Abstract

Roan and Diamond (2003) claim that labour market policy in Australia has focussed on the provision of employment and the preparation of young people for employment but entirely neglected quality of working life issues. The same may be said for other developed economies’ labour market policies. In the anguish to get young people into work, which is understandable given the youth unemployment crisis, the nature of work itself has, until recently at least, rarely been questioned. In the run up to the May 2015 UK general election, rival parties were at loggerheads over the nature of jobs being created in the economy, with the ruling coalition parties pointing to the fall in unemployment and the opposition arguing that many of these jobs were barely paying the minimum wage and that furthermore many of the jobs now being offered were on zero-hour contracts and also on casual contracts, which are ones where the employer can hire staff without the guarantee of work. Suddenly the nature of work reappeared on policy makers’ agendas and this, coupled with tourism’s admittedly poor reputation as an employer, suggests the need for a closer look at the nature of youth employment in the sector. Consequently, this chapter presents and discusses different characteristics of youth employment in tourism and hospitality. It aims to provide an insight into the experience of youth employment as well as reviewing the role of trade unions in improving working conditions for young people. The chapter also addresses separately the nature of youth employment in developing countries, and concludes with a review of the relationship between responsible tourism and youth employment.