Flexible Labour? The Growth of Student Employment in the UK

The transition from school to work in the UK has undergone dramatic change since the 1970s and the labour market that young people are entering is now signiŽ cantly different to that faced by previous generations. While securing employment has always proven difŽ cult for unqualiŽ ed youth, they are particularly disadvantaged in today’s labour market. In place of full-time employment, young people are being confronted with different forms of  exible employment. However, the growth in the demand for  exible labour has beneŽ ted young people engaged in full-time education who have over the 1990s increasingly combined study and work. Interviews with senior management in the retail grocery sector suggest that the availability of student labour has enabled them to maintain a high-quality labour force while pursuing  exible work practices. This illustrates the heterogeneous nature of the youth labour market and the need to make clear distinctions between those young people who are just in the labour market and those who are combining education and employment. Importantly, the growth in student employment emphasises the need to consider students as a signiŽ cant segment of both the youth and general labour market. Introduction This article explores the growth in  exible labour and its impact upon the youth labour market. The demand for youth labour has declined dramatically over the past two decades with one of the many reasons cited by Maguire and Maguire (1997) being employers’ increased demand for non-standard forms of employment. This has tended to appeal to older workers, primarily female, who are willing to work part-time (see Crompton et al., 1990; Crompton & Sanderson, 1990; Hakim, 1990; O’Reilly & Fagan, 1998; Rubery, 1998). However, not all sections of the youth population have been affected equally. Krahn and Lowe (1999) argue the increase in part-time service sector employment has provided opportunities for students to combine work and study particularly in retailing, catering, tourism and other consumer service industries (see also Felstead et al., 1999). Indeed, Coles (1995) points out that part-time employment is one of the fastest growth areas of youth employment, particularly among students. The growth in student employment would seem to suggest that unqualiŽ ed youth will Ž nd it increasingly difŽ cult to gain entry into the labour market (see Furlong & Cartmel, 1997; Williamson, 1997; Wyn ISSN 1363-9080 print; 1469-9435 online/02/030277-25 Ó 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/1363908022000012058