The current situation of the youth in Europe is rather difficult; the crisis decreased the protective effect of education on the one hand; on the other hand young people in the labour market suffer from high unemployment rate and early job insecurities. The latter can be described by long jobless periods, temporary contracts and jobs offered below their qualification. This phenomenon has long term and mainly negative effects in demographic changes (lack of motivation to start a family), social, as well, as economic policies (insufficient social security protection, higher risk of poverty, loss of human capital).
Therefore research on challenges and opportunities faced by the young generation in the pre- and post-recession economic eras is of utmost importance. HETFA has special experiences in this field by evaluating employment policies and proposing agendas aiming to help to increase youth employment probability.
Our approach
Our multi-disciplinary group consists of economists, sociologists, political science researchers and geographers. Using various research methods, we explore the labor market prospects of the youth, and evaluate the policies affecting them.
Our research program covers labor market, entrepreneurship, youth, family, policies and social welfare. Our research and programme evaluation is centered on the following issues:
- Youth and employment: trends and policies effecting employment situation of youth, school to work transition, precarious work situations, unemployment
- NEET: Vulnerable youth, and youth not in education, employmnet or trainting
- Rural youth, community engagement
- researching youth work and other means of supporting youth:
- Youth and gender. We examine the most important factors that determine the labor market opportunities of young women and new mothers. Aspects of family wage gap could be also considered interesting.
- Mobility and wellbeing. Youth mobility across Europe: motives and policies.
- Social inclusion and tolerance
Leading Researchers
Luca Koltai, Kinga Tóth, Eszter Szőnyi,Katalin Bördős, Ágnes Szabó-Morvai
Related projects
- We are participating in the Horizon Europe project ESIRA, which aims to support social inclusion in rural areas, with a particular focus on the vulnerable and the social economy. (https://www.esira.eu/)
- The Lost Millennials project, which ended in January 2024, aims to evaluate initiatives targeting NEET young people over 25 and to build capacity in policy impact assessment. (https://lostmillennials.eu/)
- The Interreg project MEET aims to promote mental health of young people in transnational areas. HÉTFA is a partner in the project. (https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/meet)
- We are working with the Zachor Foundation to evaluate their training work and support impact assessment.
- On behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office, we have prepared an “Ex post evaluation of measures to improve access to and retention in higher education”.
- Our organisation is a member of the SciLMi Teacher Academy (https://www.scilmi.eu/ ) project led by UNIVERSITAET INNSBRUCK. Which will develop, test and evaluate interdisciplinary, blended intensive mobility programmes and training courses that provide teachers with transversal competences, digital skills and inclusive teaching strategies that educate the next generation to critically engage with socio-scientific issues and to research and evaluate scientific claims and arguments for decision making and action.
- On behalf of the Ark Foundation, we are carrying out an impact assessment for the organisation’s international project “Making a museum”, which aims to shape young people’s attitudes and community planning for the development of a museum.
- Our organisation is conducting an impact evaluation for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to assess the impact of the pilot educational programme on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of participating stakeholders regarding anti-Semitism, Holocaust bias and denial, and their efforts to counteract these in their professional contexts.
- DECONSTRUCT (Deconstructing Distortion and Disinformation via Campaign and Digital Education): the project aims to reduce the negative effects of hate content disseminated through the media through research, education and public programmes.
- In cooperation with Panteia VB, participation in the evaluation of the quality improvement of social services entitled “Study on social services with particular focus on personal targeted social services for people in vulnerable situations”, commissioned by the European Commission DG Employment.
- HÉTFA Research Institute organised a joint conference with the Interregional Forum Association, focusing on the situation and support of NEETs, i.e. young people not in employment or education. In the framework of the EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment funded project ‘Individual Placement and Support for NEETs through Education Youth Technology Platform (EYTP)’ – IPS4NEETs – a hybrid final conference took place in Budapest.
Related papers and studies
Country Reports: Analysis of the policy context addressing 25+ NEETs (https://lostmillennials.eu/activities/creating-exploring-common-ground/)
Country Reports: Mapping of initiatives addressing 25+ NEETs (https://lostmillennials.eu/activities/mapping-of-initiatives-evaluation-practices/)
Country Reports: Evaluation Practices
Country Reports: Evaluation of selected initiatives targeting 25+ NEET based on the results of the evaluations, including policy recommendations (https://lostmillennials.eu/activities/performing-evaluation-of-initiatives/)
Synthesis Report: Comparative analysis based on the results of the country reports (https://lostmillennials.eu/activities/performing-evaluation-of-initiatives/)
National policy briefs on supporting 25+ NEETs (https://lostmillennials.eu/activities/engaging-policy-makers-practitioners/)
Transnational policy note: a comparative perspective on policy recommendations (https://lostmillennials.eu/activities/engaging-policy-makers-practitioners/)
Claudia Petrescu, Ruta Braziene, Òscar Prieto-Flores, Mariano Soler, Anastasia Costantini, Bianca Buligescu, Daiva Skuciene, Antonella Rocca, Federica Pizzolante, Luca Koltai, Mateusz Smoter & Sylwia Danilowska (2024). Rural Dimension of the Employment Policies for NEETs. A Comparative Analysis of the Reinforced Youth Guarantee. In: Simões, F., Erdogan, E. (eds) NEETs in European rural areas. SpringerBriefs in Sociology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45679-4_4
Koltai Luca – Bördős Katalin: A magyar fiatalok munkaerőpiaci helyzete, ÚJ MUNKAÜGYI SZEMLE V. ÉVFOLYAM 2024 / 1. SZ. DOI: 10.58269/umsz.2024.1.5
Demographic challenges in cohesion policy, Prime Ministers Office, HÉTFA 2023
Bördős Katalin – Koltai Luca: The labour market situation of young Hungarians, Kívánj tízet! The generational self-reflection and vision of the future of young people in Hungary, Nemzeti Ifjúsági Tanács Szövetség, Budapest 2022
Bördős Katalin – Koltai Luca: Vulnerable groups in PES practice, Új Munkaügyi Szemle 2020/2.
Lovász, A. – Szabó-Morvai, Á. (2017): Institutional Context and the Effect of Childcare on Maternal Labor Supply – a Cutoff-Based Cross-Country Analysis. HÉTFA Working Papers No. 2016/20, Budapest, ISSN 2062-378X
HÉTFA (2011): Possibilities to Improve the Efficiency of Development Funds in Job Creation
Mike, K. – Kiss, G. (2017): Beyond the Informal/Formal Divide: How do Firms Combine Contract-enforcement Institutions?, HÉTFA Working Papers No. 2017/21, Budapest, ISSN 2062-378X
Csite, A. –Luksander, A. – Mike, K. (2012): Az európai vállalkozó karaktere. [The character of the European entrepreneur] Vezetéstudomány [Management Science] 2012, 42, Special Issue on Business competitiveness, 4-13.