Examining Complexities in the Education-Work Relationship in Youth Transitions in Argentina

Abstract

The expansion in secondary and tertiary education participation and the persistent precarity of the labour market inform current debates on young people transitions in Argentina. Against this backdrop, this article examines the post-secondary school education and labour choices and experiences of a group of young people in the city and province of Buenos Aires. We draw on data from a mixed-methods longitudinal research study to analyse how young people from different socioeconomic backgrounds build their biographies in the first 5 years after leaving secondary school. This includes examining the variegated opportunities for participants of different socioeconomic status to draw from personal material and emotional resources. This socioeconomic background also accounts for the different expectations that young people and their parents have about tertiary education and labour pathways. In other words, parental and other types of support matter in the choices and opportunities of young people’s education and labour pathways. Ultimately, the analysis from our longitudinal project confirms the increasing complexity of the relationship between education and work in contemporary youth transitions.