Europe’s Education-to-work Transition Regimes in the Twenty-first Century

This paper reviews then builds upon previous comparative research into education-to-work transition regimes in Europe. It treats regimes as negotiated in education and labour markets, constantly subject to change. The paper adds America to intra-European comparisons then identifies the main direction of change in 21st century Europe. This has been away from multi-tracking towards American-type single processions. The main change drivers are identified (young people and their families), the facilitators (higher education providers and employers), and losers (providers of vocational education and training). It is argued that 21st century global economic and technological trends favour American-type transition regimes. Limitations in the paper are acknowledged and the conclusions are summarised. Keywords: education, employment, labour markets, transition regimes, youth.