Early school leaving and youth unemployment are on top of the societal and political agendas in Europe. More and more observers fear a 'lost generation' of young people who, by the combined effects of educational failure and unemployment, see their chances for a fulfilling and productive life seriously diminished. Integrating and keeping young people into education and the labour market is becoming a huge challenge and a priority for European societies. 'Early School Leaving and Youth Unemployment' is the result of an international call for scientific papers by the P and V Foundation, which aimed to reward articles that succeed to elucidate in a rigorous, empirical and original way the causes of and possible solutions for early school leaving and/or youth unemployment in Belgium and other OECD societies. The authors come from different disciplines, such as sociology, economy, education and labour market studies. AUTHOR: Saskia De Groof is coordinator of the Foundation P and V. Mark Elchardus is professor emeritus of sociology at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) and chairman of the Foundation P and V.
