IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v13y2023i1p25-d1308104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Education-to-Work Transitions in Former Communist Countries after 30-Plus Years of Transformation

Author

Listed:
  • Ken Roberts

    (Law and Social Justice Building, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK)

  • Maria-Carmen Pantea

    (Department of Social Work, Universitatea ‘Babeș-Bolyai’, RO-400604 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

  • Dan-Cristian Dabija

    (Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Universitatea ‘Babeș-Bolyai’, RO-400591 Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Abstract

This paper reviews how young people’s education-to-work transitions have changed since 1989 in former communist countries that have subsequently become full members of the European Union (EU). The sudden collapse of the command economies led to an equally abrupt breakdown in earlier routes into working life. Subsequently, the new independent states have reconstructed their education and training, and their market economies have developed. They now exhibit similar variations in rates of youth unemployment, progression through higher education, and mixtures of academic and vocational secondary education as older EU member states. However, there are features that continue to set all ex-communist countries apart, irrespective of whether they have become full EU members. These are low local rates of pay and westward migration. Its new member states have joined the Southern countries in a European periphery. Yet, there may be sufficient winners in the European core and periphery to keep Europe united.

Suggested Citation

  • Ken Roberts & Maria-Carmen Pantea & Dan-Cristian Dabija, 2023. "Education-to-Work Transitions in Former Communist Countries after 30-Plus Years of Transformation," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:25-:d:1308104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/1/25/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/1/25/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Round & Colin C. Williams & Peter Rodgers, 2008. "Corruption in the post-Soviet workplace: the experiences of recent graduates in contemporary Ukraine," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 22(1), pages 149-166, March.
    2. Mihaly Simai, 2006. "Poverty and Inequality in Eastern Europe and the CIS Transition Economies," Working Papers 17, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668, March.
    2. Vesselin Mintchev & Venelin Boshnakov & Alexander Naydenov, 2010. "Sources of Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence from Bulgaria," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 4, pages 39-64.
    3. Josip Franic, 2019. "Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(1), pages 5-46, June.
    4. Williams Colin, 2009. "Evaluating the Extent and Nature of ‘Envelope Wages’ in the European Union: A Geographical Analysis," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 115-129, June.
    5. Isabel Ortiz & Matthew Cummins, 2011. "Global Inequality: Beyond the Bottom Billion – A Rapid Review of Income Distribution in 141 Countries," Working papers 1102, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    6. C. Williams, Colin & Bezeredi, Slavko, 2017. "Tackling The Illegal Practice Of Under-Reporting Employees’ Wages: Lessons From The Republic Of Macedonia," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 8(3), pages 243-258.
    7. Ainura Uzagalieva & Antonio Menezes, 2009. "The poverty effect of remittance flows: evidence from Georgia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 453-474.
    8. Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan & Jacob Assa, 2021. "Poverty in “Transition”: 30 Years After and in the Pandemic," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 80(4), pages 1233-1258, September.
    9. Cerami, Alfio, 2007. "Social Change and Welfare State Developments in CEE and Russia," MPRA Paper 8479, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Colin C. Williams & Sara Nadin, 2012. "Tackling Undeclared Work in the European Union," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 13(02), pages 20-25, July.
    11. Colin C. WILLIAMS & Josip FRANIC, 2017. "Tackling the illegitimate under-reporting of salaries in Southeast Europe: some lessons from a 2015 survey in Bulgaria, Croatia and FYR Macedonia," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 8, pages 5-28, June.
    12. Joan Costa-i-Font & Lucia Kossarova, 2015. "Anthropometric Dividends of Czechoslovakia’s Break Up," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 95, European Institute, LSE.
    13. Krivogorsky, Victoria & Mintchik, Natalia & Alon, Anna, 2023. "Accounting research in former Soviet bloc countries: Past trends and current and future developments," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    14. Colin Williams, 2020. "An Institutional Theory of Tax Non- Compliance in Bulgaria: a Tax Morale Approach," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 33-49, March.
    15. Costa-Font, Joan & Kossarova, Lucia, 2014. "Anthropometric dividends of Czechoslovakia’s break up," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60719, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Easterlin, Richard A., 2009. "Lost in transition: Life satisfaction on the road to capitalism," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 130-145, August.
    17. Ioana Alexandra Horodnic & Colin C. Williams & Rodica Ianole-Cãlin & Adrian V. Horodnic, 2023. "Exploring the illegal practice of under-reporting wages in the construction industry: some lessons from Romania," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(26), pages 2978-2992, June.
    18. Colin C. Williams & Jan Windebank, 2011. "Regional Variations in the Nature of the Shadow Economy: Evidence from a Survey of 27 European Union Member States," Chapters, in: Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Handbook on the Shadow Economy, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Muhammad Zahid & José Moleiro Martins & Haseeb Ur Rahman & Mário Nuno Mata & Syed Asim Shah & Pedro Neves Mata, 2021. "The Interconnection between Decent Workplace and Firm Financial Performance through the Mediation of Environmental Sustainability: Lessons from an Emerging Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-14, April.
    20. Facundo Alvaredo & Leonardo Gasparini, 2013. "Recent Trends in Inequality and Poverty in Developing Countries," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0151, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2023:i:1:p:25-:d:1308104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.