ABSTRACT
The 2008 Great Recession, like the economic downturns before that, significantly affected education and employment opportunities, especially for young people between 16 and 24 years embarking on the transition to adult life (Bell & Blanchflower, 2011). Young people on the cusp of independent adulthood are generally entering a make-or-break period in their lives in which external shocks have the potential to create diverging destinies. Against the backdrop of a global economic decline and changing employment opportunities, there is increasing uncertainty regarding anticipated pathways into the labor market (Blossfeld, 2005; Gutman & Schoon, 2012). Moreover, young people’s perception of the economic climate can impact on their aspirations and motivation regarding extended education participation, either providing an incentive to invest in the accumulation of skills if they think they need additional competencies to succeed in a competitive labor market, or discouraging them from continuing in education and pushing them into paid employment as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary expenditure on training which might not pay off (Schoon & Bynner, in press).
