STYLE was an FP7-funded research project. Its aim was to provide a comprehensive understanding of the causes of very high unemployment among young people and to assess the effectiveness of labour market policies designed to mitigate this phenomenon. The analysis allowed to both identify where policies are working and why. It illuminated when and how labour market analysis informs policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. This required a multi-disciplinary and internationally comparative perspective. The project provided a recent historical analysis accounting for factors prior to, and following on from the recent periods of economic crisis.
This aim was achieved through the 10 objectives organised around 12 research, dissemination and management work packages. CEPS was involved in the following WPs:
• Achieve a critical mass of resources in collaboration with stakeholder communities (WP2) with 1 post on the Youth Forum and 2 articles on Yo magazine.
• Assess the prospects for policy transfer mechanisms (including those under the European Social Fund) (WP4) with one country report on barriers to and triggers of policy innovation and knowledge transfer in Belgium
• Provide a critical review of the mismatch in supply and demand (WP5) with a working paper titled “Are student workers crowding out low-skilled youth?”
• Examine the consequences of mismatch in terms of labour mobility and migration for young people within the EU (WP6) with a working paper titled “Re-emerging migration patterns: structures and policy lessons”
• Analyse the nature and mechanisms of flexicurity regimes and how they contribute to overcoming youth unemployment (WP10) with an academic paper titled “Forget about unemployment rates” and a working paper titled “Mapping Flexibility and Security Performance in the Face of the Crisis”.
