Edited by Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Professor of Sociology, University of Bamberg, Sandra Buchholz, Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, Bamberg, Germany, Erzsébet Bukodi, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, UK and Karin Kurz, Göttingen University, Germany

• Contents:PrefaceForewordPART I: INTRODUCTION1. Struggling to Become an Insider: Does Increasing Flexibility atLabor Market Entry Affect Early Careers? A Theoretical FrameworkErzsébet Bukodi, Ellen Ebralidze, Paul Schmelzer and Hans-Peter Blossfeld2. Youth Unemployment in Western Europe: The Effects of Individual,Market, and Institutional FactorsKatrin GolschPART II: COUNTRY-SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS3. A New Mobility Regime in Germany? Young People’s Labor MarketEntry and Phase of Establishment Since the Mid-1980sSandra Buchholz and Karin Kurz4. Increasing Labor Market Instability Among Young People? LaborMarket Entry and Early Career Development Among School-Leaversin the Netherlands Since the Mid-1980sMaarten H.J. Wolbers5. Increasing Employment Instability in France? Young People’s LaborMarket Entry and Early Careers Since the 1990sSimone Zdrojewski, Yvette Grelet and Louis-André Vallet6. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor Market Entries and Early Careers in Spain Since the Mid-1970sJuan I. Martínez-Pastor, Fabrizio Bernardi and Luis Garrido7. Flexibilizing the Italian Labor Market: Unanticipated Consequencesof Partial and Targeted Labor Market DeregulationPaolo Barbieri and Stefani Scherer8. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor Market Entries and Early Careers in Great Britain Since the 1980sPaul Schmelzer9. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? Labor Market Entries and Early Careers in the United States ofAmerica, 1984–2002Ilona Relikowski, Markus Zielonka and Heather Hofmeister10. Increasing Employment Instability Among Young People? LaborMarket Entries and Early Careers in Sweden 1980–2000Karin Halldén and Martin Hällsten11. Weaker Entries – Lower Risk of Unemployment: Labor Market Entry Trends in Denmark between 1981 and 2003Ellen Ebralidze and Søren Leth-Sørensen12. Increasing Labor Market Insecurities Among Young People? Labor Market Entry Process in Hungary Since the Early 1980sErzsébet Bukodi13. Changing Mobility Regime in Estonia? Young People’s Labor MarketEntry and Early Careers Since the 1980sKadri Täht, Ellu Saar and Marge UntPART III: CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION14. Young People’s Employment Chances on Flexible Labor Markets:A Comparison of Changes in Eleven Modern SocietiesKarin Kurz, Sandra Buchholz, Paul Schmelzer and Hans-PeterBlossfeldIndex