Young adult experiences with securing employment: Perceptions of and experiences with employer discrimination and expectations hinder successful labour market attachment

Authors

  • Micheal L. Shier University of Pennsylvania
  • John R. Graham University of Calgary
  • Mary Goitom York University
  • Marilyn Eisenstat Managing Director (retired), PEACH - Promoting Education and Community Health

Keywords:

young adult, employment, labour market, discrimination, temporary, precariousness

Abstract

The increasingly precarious nature of North America’s labour market has created challenges for young adults in securing and maintaining adequate employment. In a study to better understand these barriers one to one interviews and focus groups were conducted with 36 young adults (between ages 18 and 29) in one neighborhood in Toronto, Canada. Findings show that varying forms of discrimination experienced and perceived by respondents when searching out employment, along with expectations of employers within current labour markets, act as key barriers impacting successful labour market attachment. The findings suggest that these challenges experienced by young people in the labour market can have a lasting psychosocial impact on young people when attaching to the labour market. There is a present need to address both negative socio-cultural perceptions of young adults (and those held by young adults) and the precarious aspects of the labour market that support and maintain social inequality through more substantive policy, regulatory and program based initiatives.

Author Biographies

Micheal L. Shier, University of Pennsylvania

PhD Candidate and Research Fellow, School of Social Policy and Practice, University of Pennsylvania

John R. Graham, University of Calgary

Murrray Fraser Professor of Community Economic Development, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary.

Mary Goitom, York University

PhD Candidate, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary

Downloads

Published

2014-04-15

How to Cite

Shier, M. L., Graham, J. R., Goitom, M., & Eisenstat, M. (2014). Young adult experiences with securing employment: Perceptions of and experiences with employer discrimination and expectations hinder successful labour market attachment. Canadian Review of Social Policy Revue Canadienne De Politique Sociale, (70). Retrieved from https://crsp.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/crsp/article/view/35764

Issue

No. 70 (2014)

Section

Articles

License

1-The author guarantees that the manuscript is an original work not published elsewhere in print or electronically in whole or in part, except in abstract form, that the author has the full power to make this contribution, and that the manuscript contains no matter libelous or otherwise unlawful or which invades the right of privacy or which infringes any proprietary right.

 

2-The author guarantees that the manuscript has not been previously published in print or electronically and that if the manuscript contains any tables, figures or images fully reproduced or closely adapted from previously published material, the author must obtain the necessary permission from the author/publisher holding the original copyright prior to publication in CRSP. The author may be required to produce evidence of permission granted to CRSP’s editors.


 3-As a condition of publication in CRSP, the author assigns all copyright to CRSP, including but not limited to the right to publish, republish, and otherwise distribute this manuscript in print, electronic, or other formats. As CRSP is a non-profit interdisciplinary scholarly journal, the author will receive no royalty or other monetary compensation for the assignment set forth in this agreement.

 

For the purpose of full disclosure, CRSP will not normally use the content provided by the author in a commercial venture, but for the purpose of disseminating the author’s content to as many readers as possible. For distribution, third parties engaging in commercial activities may be contracted to distribute the content globally, and such parties may make a profit out of the author’s content in their normal course of business. CRSP will not pay the author or reimburse the author in any form based on such commercial activities because the conduct of such commercial activities is outside the control of CRSP.

 

Any future reference to or use of this published material by the authors must acknowledge CRSP as the original place of publication.

 

PERMISSION REQUEST/ARCHIVING

Permission is given to author(s) receiving funding via Tri-Council Agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), to make their publications freely available in an Open Access repository within the stated deadline by the Tri-Council Agencies (12 months following publication). Archiving of publication must be a manuscript copy bearing none of the CRSP headers, footers or any other distinguishing marks. No links to the article on the CRSP website is permitted.

 Permission requests from third parties to reproduce articles in part or full in academic/educational publications can be directed to the managing editor of CRSP, and will not be unreasonably denied.