The Young and the Elderly at Risk: Individual outcomes and contemporary policy challenges in European societies

The current retrenchment of the welfare states is buffering the growing demographic and economic pressures in European countries at the expense of the young and the elderly. However, both investment in the young, which determines a society’s future, and providing public support for the elderly, the most deserving needy group, are seen as musts. This book encompasses a selection of empirical studies reflecting on when and why the young and the elderly are at risk in several (mostly Western) European countries. Contributions in the book examine the educational achievement and the labor market entry of youths, particularly those who have a migration background, the poverty risk experienced by the elderly, especially if they are also immigrants and/or women, the pension outcomes of former cross-border workers, the simulated consequeces of a recent pension benefit reform as well as those of a potential reform including financial assets and housing wealth in old-age income protection, and finally the extent, and possible erosion, of the support for government providing child-care and protecting the elderly. Preface – Wim van Oorschot
Introduction – Ioana Salagean, Catalina Lomos & Anne Hartung
1. Does ethnic capital contribute to the educational outcomes of individuals with Turkish background in Europe? – Sait Bayrakdar
2. Young adults at risk in Germany: The impact of vocational training on the ethnic gap at labour market entry – Anne Hartung
3. Poverty among elderly immigrants in Belgium – Line De Witte, Sofie Vanassche & Hans Peeters
4. Integrating life course and pension policy perspectives: The case of poverty among elderly women – Hans Peeters & Wouter de Tavernier
5. Including assets in comparative old age poverty research: How does it change the picture? – Rika Verpoorten
6. The social and budgetary impacts of the recent social security reform in Belgium – Gijs Dekkers, Saskia Weemaes, Nicole Fasquelle & Raphael Desmet
7. Cross-border social security coordination, mobility of labour and pension outcomes – Irina Burlacu & Cathal O'Donoghue
8. Do self-interest, ideology and national context influence opinions on government support for childcare? A multilevel analysis – Wouter de Tavernier
9. Individual attitudes towards welfare states responsibility for the elderly – Nathalie Schuerman
Rejoinder: Is intergenerational solidarity under pressure? Comparative analyses of age cleavages in opinions about government support for the young and the old – Tim Reeskens & Wim van Oorschot