As societies become more technically advanced and jobs require more expertise, young people are forced into a prolonged state of social marginality - no longer children, but not yet valued members of adult society. Employment during adolescence could provide significant experiences for growth into later work roles, but most societies are not equipped to provide adolescents with meaningful work experience, and youth unemployment and social marginality continue to grow.

Youth Unemployment and Society is a timely and important volume that examines the phenomenon of prolonged adolescence. Historians, psychologists, economists, and sociologists join forces to provide a cross-national examination of trends in youth unemployment and intervention strategies in the United States and Europe.

Assessing the causes of aggregate societal unemployment rates, the authors address factors that make individuals more vulnerable to unemployment and consider the developmental consequences of this experience. The volume also examines how persistently high rates of youth unemployment feed back on society, affecting its values, beliefs, and institutions.

1. The cross-national comparisons enhance our understanding of the causes of youth unemployment and provide some insights into its solution. A critical overview by Walter Heinz recommends coordinated action on the part of employers, parents, and government to enhance the human capital of young people who do not enter universities, and to prevent the development of a permanent underclass of marginalized and discouraged workers.