Perspektiv på välfärden 2004 (pdf) - Statistiska centralbyrån

It is important to stress the gender difference.
Women had lower incomes in youth and they
were more deprived. This situation was not counterbalanced
by the development over time, but
was, on the contrary, exaggerated, with both income
and deprivation developing less favourably
for women as compared to men. The gender differences
were not an effect of women’s educational
choices (no difference between the sexes is
observed), neither were they caused by other circumstances
controlled for in the model (unemployment,
nest leaving, parenthood, social assistance).
It was rather the case that the indirect effects
offset the direct gender effect. Thus, women
face a more difficult economic situation during
youth, mainly because they are women and partly
because they, as such, are more exposed to situations
that detrimentally affect their economic
situation. However, women’s unfavourable development
over time is not explained by these ‘situations’
in youth; the explanation should rather be
sought in the gendered structure of society – a
structure that systematically influences labour
market careers and family obligations during
youth as well as adulthood.
The other variables measuring the situation
during youth had less clear-cut impacts. Young
people that studied had, as expected, low incomes
and the longer they studied the more economically
deprived they tended to be. Yet in a longer
perspective, the investments in human capital
resulted in a more rapid income increase and a
decrease in economic difficulties. Long-term unemployment
in youth was associated with low
income and a high incidence of economic
deprivation during youth, but the long-term
impact was small. Youth unemployment was not
associated with an ongoing economic marginalization
process. However, there were no signs that
the (long-term) unemployed would make up for
their unfavourable starting position later on in life.
Thus, the economic losses induced by
unemployment in youth are in most cases not
regained in adulthood. The result also confirms
that a shorter period of unemployment during
youth is a quite unproblematic phenomenon.
The negative effect in youth of nest leaving
was more or less counterbalanced during adulthood
by a relatively positive income development
and negative growth in economic deprivation.
Also early parenthood was related to economic
problems in youth, but in this case future development
was not very positive and there seems to
be a longstanding impact on the incidence of economic
deprivation. Recipients of social assistance
reported a much higher incidence of deprivation
than did any other group. It is important to note,
however, that the development over time was not
terribly poor and that this group showed the great-
Youth
est decrease in deprivation. Hence, it could not be
shown that recipients of assistance were "losers"
in the long run.
The main conclusions to be drawn are the following:
• Young people’s incomes do not say very much
about their current standard of living or future
earning ability. If anything, low income is a
predictor of substantial future income growth.
There are good reasons to be sceptical regarding
the importance of analysing young people's income
situation and the incidence of income
poverty among the young.
• Being economically deprived during youth is
unrelated to the development of deprivation
over time. Hence, the finding that young people
in general face economic difficulties does not
imply that we are observing a problem with
lasting implications.
• Labour market situation and household characteristics
during youth are only modestly related
to the development later on in life. However,
long-term unemployment hampers young people's
economy, and there is nothing in this study
to indicate that this situation will be counterbal-
anced over time.
Most importantly, the results of this analysis emphasize
the importance of the reproduction of
class and gender relations. It is these two fundamental
aspects that more than anything else affect
young people, on their way into adulthood and in
their future life as adults. So, back to basics –
fight class differences and promote gender equality.
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