Nine mechanisms of job-searching and job-finding through contacts among young adults
Since Granovetter's seminal works, the influence of personal networks on the labour market has attracted widespread attention. This article analyses the role played by contacts in the context of the labour trajectories of young people in Spain, for whom the use of personal networks represents o...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2021 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona |
| Repositorio: | Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ddd.uab.cat:240436 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://ddd.uab.cat/record/240436 https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1177/13607804211009525 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Labour market Personal networks Social capital Youth |
| Sumario: | Since Granovetter's seminal works, the influence of personal networks on the labour market has attracted widespread attention. This article analyses the role played by contacts in the context of the labour trajectories of young people in Spain, for whom the use of personal networks represents one of the most important job-searching methods. Using narrative data extracted from a life-history grid and ego-network generator, the analysis brings to light nine mechanisms in which personal contacts intervene in job-searching and job-finding in a sample of 90 young people living in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The article emphasizes that contacts play primarily three roles in these processes as informers, employers, or influencers. This distinction offers a renewed framework for the study of networks in the labour market, further complementing the debate on the strength of ties. Using this framework allows me to create a map of the mechanisms that shed light on personal networks as tools with which to deal with labour insecurity and unemployment among young people, thus providing resources that to a large extent reaffirm the objective character of class differences. The article offers innovative insights into how social capital operates in the labour market and helps understand how youth precarity, which is widespread in Spain, is experienced in a relational way. |
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