YOUTH, DIVERSITY AND EMPLOYMENT: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON LABOUR MARKET POLICIES

A Nordic research team is preparing an edited volume which examines the labour market inclusion of young adults as well as the impact of policies to enhance this inclusion in Nordic welfare states (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). All contr ibutors signed the contract with Edward Elgar in December 2013. First drafts of all chapters should be submitted to the editors for review by end March. Once all contributions have been internally reviewed, two external experts in the area will review the book manuscript (by June). Language/ copy editing will be completed in August. In keeping with the contract with Edward Elgar Publisher the volume will have a maximum of 90,000 words (11 chapters of 8-9,000 words each). The editors (Rune Halvorsen and Bjørn Hvinden) intend to sign a contract with Kolbeinn Stefánsson (University of Iceland) about the language/ copy editing. The comments and suggestions from the double blind peer review are minimal and will be incorporated in the introductory and con cluding chapter (cf copy of correspondence with the publisher). Based on combined analyses of new statistical data, legal developments and interview data, the volume examines the changing mechanisms influencing the transitions from education to employme nt for young adults. Integrating insights of social sciences (economics, political science, social policy and sociology) and law the volume provides an innovative analysis of the impact of the emerging sets or packages of policy instruments in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). The main question addressed in this volume is: what combinations of redistributive and regulative policy instruments are most likely to enhance inclusion young adults in the labour market?