In this master thesis, I examine the phenomena of precarious work by challenging it in a Danish context. This master thesis revolves around young people from the age of 18 to 30 and is set to reveal the structures that young people with either no education or low skilled education are living under, putting them at risk of precariousness. The overall focus in the thesis is a search for the underlying generative mechanisms in the Danish education system, employment system and the labour market. The offset of the analysis is critical realism which is based on an ontological point of view, in which the task is about moving away from the experienced phenomena and to find the mechanisms that have created this phenomenon.
The purpose of this master thesis is to widen the perspective of the social worker in regard to the work with young people in the employment system and further more to draw attention to the phenomena among the social partners of the labour market.
The analysis is lead on from a platform of theories, counting especially Guy Standing, Ove Kaj Pedersen and Robert MacDonald and their view on the labour market and precarisation. I have found that even though the phenomena occur differently than in other countries, it is present in the Danish structure and some of the bearing elements in the theories can also be spotted in Denmark.
The examination of the phenomena revolves around the present time, in which the young people currently live in. To investigate the phenomena thoroughly I have chosen mixed methods for my design. I find that mixed methods is the best way to reveal the underlying mechanisms in the Danish society, which contributes in the precarisation of young people. My use of mixed methods contains a research of both quantitative and qualitative nature. The quantitative research relies on the Danish Workforce Survey. I have chosen the relevant variables that refers to the chosen theory and investigated how the factors education level, gender and age correlate with precarious work. In continuance from this I have made a multiple logistic regression analysis to see the odds of ending up in precarious work if you have one or more of the factors mentioned above. I have found that there is a connection between education, age and the risc of precarious employment. I have found that the most exposed groups are those who have only achieved primary school and those with lower education. Statisticly, these two groups have significantly higher odds of precarisation, while those having only high school or vocational education statistic do not seem to have significant odds of precarisation. Also the factor of age is statistical significant. The analysis shows that by every year a person gets older the odds of precarisation decreases.
In the qualitative part of my examination I have conducted six interviews with social partners of the labour market, as well as others. With these interviews I have investigated the current labour market and education system for young people with either none or poor education, seeking to find the before mentioned generative mechanisms in the Danish structure regarding education, work and welfare. In my interviews, I found that especially the overturn of the education system led on by globalization is of importance in the precarisation of young people. Also, I found evidence of precarious conditions in the vocational education system and the mandatory internships. In regard to this, I found that there are some mechanisms in the Danish structure that on one hand prevent a great deal of precarisation and on the other hand decreases the risk for a small group of young people. Overall, the continuous development of the educational system and the labour market excludes the young people who cannot live up to the academic demands.