Report: Leisure jobs strengthen integration for young people with minority backgrounds

The basis for studying part-time/holiday jobs in the Nordic countries LG Insight has conducted a study on the use of part-time/holiday jobs for young people with ethnic minority backgrounds aged 13-18 in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The study is based on a large and systematic literature review, interviews with key stakeholders within employment/integration, culture and leisure, and a questionnaire survey covering all four countries.

Read the report HERE (in Danish)

The study is based on a large amount of data, but is not intended to be comprehensive. The sole purpose has been to identify traditions and good examples of integration-effective part-time/holiday jobs for young people.

Work for young people under 18 years of age as part of the labour force In all four Nordic countries, there are examples of young people under the age of 18 working in combination with school and other spare-time activities. The primary purpose of a part-time job is for the companies to solve some production tasks, while the pay is the primary motivation for the young people.

However, part-time jobs are significantly more prevalent in Denmark, where approximately 34% of young people under the age of 18 are employed and therefore part of the regular labour force in the labour market. It is estimated to be significantly lower in the other three Nordic countries and typically in parent/family businesses or similar, or in larger companies that also employ young people for social reasons.

Holiday and part-time jobs for vulnerable groups of young people

LG Insight’s study shows that all four Nordic countries have a wide range of initiatives that target young people who need support and counselling to get a part-time/holiday job.

In Sweden, municipalities are launching a very large number of summer jobs in municipal welfare jobs (nursing homes, daycare centres, etc.), while Norwegian municipalities offer summer jobs in both private and public companies.

In Finland, municipalities also have summer job programmes, which include a voucher scheme where municipalities offer different target groups of young people a pay subsidy for a private summer job that the young people find themselves.