EMPLOYMENT FLEXIBILITY AS A DETERMINANT OF YOUTH POVERTY

Abstract

The aim of the article is to identify the risk of poverty in the youth population, mainly aged 15-24 in the European Union, with particular emphasis on the employment of so-called flexible forms of employment. The specific aim of the article is to investigate the interdependencies between the selected variables that determine the phenomenon of economic poverty and the proportion of young people with flexible employment (part-time and temporary work). Taking into account the availability and comparability of the statistical data, selected statistical characteristics have been included to describe the economic poverty of youth and their situation on the labour markets in the European Union. As a measure of youth poverty aged 15-24, the risk of poverty, the rate of severe material deprivation, and the proportion of people living in low work intensity households were taken into account. The analysis period covers the years 2004-2015. The main source of statistics is the Eurostat base. The study covered all EU Member States (being members on the date of data collection), regardless of the moment of EU accession. The
analysis uses simple statistical methods to investigate the correlation between the selected variables and the dispersion measure. As a source of data to address the risk of youth poverty the findings of EU-SILC were used.