RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article T1 Measuring Youth Living Conditions in Europe: A Multidimensional Cross-Country Approach A1 Corrales Herrero, María Elena A1 Rodríguez Prado, Beatriz K1 Juventud - Países de la Unión Europea K1 Youth K1 Living conditions K1 Multi-criteria approach K1 Double reference point method K1 EU countries K1 63 Sociología K1 5302 Econometría AB Since the onset of the Great Recession, it could be argued that it is the young who havebeen hardest hit in their living conditions. This paper offers a comprehensive descriptionof youth living conditions and how they evolved during the recession period. To do so,we develop a synthetic index combining the indicators proposed by experts in thedimensions of Education and Training, Employment and Entrepreneurship, and SocialInclusion, through a multi-criteria approach based on the double reference point method.This technique enriches the debate by shifting the focus to acceptable and desirablethresholds for each indicator and by overcoming limitations inherent in previous youthindexes that allow for total compensation between the indicators, whilst ignoring potentialimbalances. Results show that, in a context of convergence in policy instruments acrosscountries during the Great Recession, there was an improvement in educationperformance, whereas cross-country divergences in terms of youth labour marketprospects and social inclusion increased. This evolution has led to a more complex picturewhich is characterized by greater polarization in the spatial distribution of youth livingconditions, with two noticeable poles: north-central Europe as opposed to the south andeast of Europe. Differences in institutional configurations in the fields of education andtraining, active labour market policies, employment protection legislation and welfareprovision together with macroeconomic trends, particularly levels of demand for youthlabour and fiscal resources, have played an important role in shaping European youthliving conditions. PB Springer SN 0303-8300 YR 2021 FD 2021 LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/66997 UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/66997 LA eng NO Social Indicator Research, 2021, vol. 155, p. 1077–1117 NO Producción Científica DS UVaDOC RD 01-nov-2024