Example employment dissertation topic 5:

Massaging the figures? Youth unemployment, school leaving ages and state pensions.

Combining primary and secondary research this dissertation seeks to synthesise the views of young people, employers and politicians. Though trumpeted by the government as a means to ensure that future generations are equipped with the necessary skills required to survive in the e-world; it can alternatively be argued that the rise in the school leaving age from 16 to 18 is a convenient way to remove a significant number from the jobs market – thereby decreasing unemployment figures. This dissertation further notes that this ‘removal of the young’ coincides with a rising of the state pension age. It accordingly suggests that the primary motivation for the further education of the young is because in an increasingly out-sourced service-based economy there are simply ‘not enough’ jobs to go around if the old must wait longer for their pension.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Chung, H., Bekker, S. and Houwing, H. (2012). ‘Young people and the post-recession labour market in the context of Europe 2020’. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, vol. 18(3), pp. 301-317.
• Danson, M. and Gilmore, K. (2012). ‘Employability and flexible retirement: Variations in academia in an age of austerity’. Geoforum, vol. 43(6), pp. 1323-1332.
• Maguire, S.M. (2012). ‘Will raising the participation age (RPA) solve the NEET problem?’ Journal of Youth Studies (ahead-of-print).