Jaunimo požiūris į socialinį teisingumą ir nelygybę (integruojantis į darbo rinką kontekste) ; Young people's attitude towards social justice and inequality (while integrating themselves into the labour market)

Abstract

The aim of the Master's thesis is to disclose the needs of young people (up to their late-twenties) seeking integration into the labour market as well as to reveal the obstacles hindering them from being employed.The objectives – to analyse the issue of social justice; to present a theoretical interpretation of the concept of social inequality; to look into young people's opportunities for social justice in terms of integration into the labour market; to carry out a sociological survey which enables to clarify and reveal the needs of the youth (up to their late-twenties) in order to integrate themselves into the labour market and, in addition to this, to investigate the obstacles interfering with the process of employment of young people.The subject of research: the attitude of young people towards inequality and social justice while integrating themselves into the labour market. Methods of the Master's thesis: the analysis of academic and statistical literature as well as publications of social and political journalism; qualitative research (interviews); two groups of informants: five students (academic youth) and five employers (company executives). The research has established that the main requirements posed by employers for young specialists include qualifications, education and a sense of duty.The choice of an employee meeting the job requirements is an important prerequisite for successful work performance. It is also vital that a new hired and suitable employee should work for quite a lengthy period of time. Replacement and and a turnover of staff within a company is rather costly. It takes approximately a year for a new hired employee to achieve proper labour productivity and it takes even longer to gain mastery. It is worth mentioning that before going to higher schools young people do not take into consideration whether their chosen speciality will be marketable. After graduating from university or college and having qualifications most young people tend to notice that they lack popularity in the labour market: their education does not meet the labour market requirements and the speciality is not in demand. In order to be marketable it is necessary for young people in their early youth years to know firmly what studies to choose and where to study.Higher schools cooperate sluggishly with business companies in terms of practical work issues, so according to young people, finding a place for doing practical work is a difficult task. The youth agree that the knowledge acquired doing practical work is beneficial and they hope to be able to apply the knowledge to another field as well. Development of practical competence for future professionals should be one of the most important goals to strive for cooperation with the companies in the country. The state is the guarantee which is to ensure the well-being of its citizens with the priority objective of developing the foundation of a welfare state. According to employers, the current state policy predetermines an increase in the rate of unemployment of young people. Key words: social justice, inequality, young people/ the youth, integration into the labour market.