Young People’s Attitudes to Attractive Work, During and After Upper Secondary School

Abstract

Attractive work has been defined as a job position which an individual wants

Reflecting on Work Values with Young Unemployed Adults in Finland

“…These concerns illustrate the interplay between subjective and objective reality that influences the work values of young adults. Consistent with the results of Bergqvist and Eriksson (2015) and Andersson et al (2017), the participants in this study seem to appreciate work for many reasons: it provides meaningful activities, social status, and personal development. When work is attached to a sense of self, it comes close to the 'calling' orientation, identity building, and self-expression (see Chalofsky 2003;Fleming 2014).…”

“…Work is also valued according to the income it would provide. Following the previous studies, the interviewees are motivated by the extrinsic rewards of work such as good pay and material possessions (e.g., Andersson et al 2017;Twenge et al 2010). Some of the participants expressed more of a job-orientation, being more willing to work simply with a view to earning money, while others expressed more of a callingorientation by talking more about the importance of self-realization (see Sperry 2011).…”

“…When studying the conceptions of work among urban youth in the USA, Chaves et al (2004) found that even if young adults had all the finances, they wanted they would still keep working to avoid boredom, to earn more, to benefit others, and to obtain satisfaction from work. Andersson et al (2017) have found that the most important reasons for working among Swedish young people are 'earning a living and survival' as well as 'self-realization and a good quality of life'. Based on these findings about the various important meanings of work, we can assume that young unemployed adults find work an elementary and important part of life.…”

Meaning of Work During the Transition From Vocational Education and Training to Employment

“…In fact, when they move from school to employment, young adults compare their expectations toward work with the reality of their labour market integration (Krahn et al, 2015;Masdonati & Fournier, 2015;Wray-Lake et al, 2011). During the STWT, the construction of the meaning of work is influenced by contextual, psychosocial, and demographic factors such as people's educational level and path, socio-economic status and resources (Kenny et al, 2016;Mercure et al, 2012), labour market integration (Andersson et al, 2017), ethnicity (Blustein et al, 2010), gender and educational aspirations (Wray-Lake et al, 2011), and social norms and culture .…”

“…Additional variables could be taken into account to assess variations in the meaning of work of young adults entering the labour market such as socio-economic status and other educational factors (Kenny et al, 2016;Mercure et al, 2012). The same can be said for the quality of integration into the labour market, since we can expect that the construction of the meaning of work might be destabilized among young adults having difficulties with finding a stable position in the occupation they were trained for (Andersson et al, 2017). Fourth, this study focused on two central but specific features of the concept of meaning of work: work centrality and purposes.…”