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‘Permanently Temping?’ – Education, Labour Markets and Precarious Transitions to Adulthood Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Laura Cartwright University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy July 2015 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own, and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 The University of Leeds Laura Cartwright 4 CONTENTS Abstract 6 Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 8 Chapter One: The Road to Freedom? The ascendance of Neoliberalism in the UK 20 Chapter Two: Methodology and Research Design 49 Chapter Three: The ‘Precariat’ 74 Chapter Four: ‘Great Expectations’ The changing nature of Higher Education in the UK 91 Chapter Five: Youth Labour Markets 126 Chapter Six: Living Precariously 161 Conclusion 189 Bibliography 200 Appendices 224 5 ABSTRACT Since the late 1970s the UK has undergone a period of substantial economic, political and social change. Fundamental to this has been the rise of ‘neoliberalism’ a political and economic philosophy premised upon the expansion of free markets, deregulation, and a reduced role for the state. The subsequent reformulation of economy and society around such principles has transformed the structures, institutions and processes through which people navigate their lives. Young people must now make decisions and face risks that were largely unheard of only one or two generations ago with significant changes in both education and the labour market having radically altered the transition from school to work. The move towards market-driven ‘mass’ higher education in the UK, alongside a deregulated, flexible and non-unionised labour force driven by an expansion of insecure, temporary and ‘precarious’ forms of work, has impacted upon youth transitions on a number of levels. With an absence of economic security and biographical clarity, the ability to achieve the traditional benchmarks of adulthood (marriage, mortgage and children) is becoming extremely difficult. This study investigates the experiences of a group of young people in order to find out how processes associated with neoliberalism are affecting their lives. By conducting interviews with twenty temporary workers aged between 18 and 30, this study builds up a picture of their transition from compulsory education to further study or employment. The aim here is to understand how they have negotiated the choices available to them, how they feel about the work they do, their experiences of and views on higher education, ‘temping’ and youth labour markets more generally. Ultimately, it uncovers how the precarious and insecure nature of their temporary role impacts on their personal identity, their ambitions, relationships and plans for the future. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is quite hard to believe that the idea for this PhD was conceived way back in late 2006. Although the road to this point has been far from straightforward, I have been fortunate enough to have had the support and guidance of a number of people along the way. My first thanks go to Dr Simon Winlow, who having supervised my Masters dissertation, assuring me that ‘there is a PhD there…’ continued for two years to help me secure the funding that would enable me to study full-time. I doubt very much whether I would have embarked upon this PhD without his encouragement. Similarly, my PhD Supervisors Dr Mark Davis and Dr Simon Prideaux, have provided much support, guidance and encouragement throughout the past five years, and have helped considerably in developing my expertise and confidence. I owe huge thanks to you both. Of course, this study would be nothing without the research participants. I owe great thanks to Stevie Scott for putting me in touch with an industry contact at a time when no recruitment agency in West Yorkshire would speak to me! Special thanks go to ‘Helen’ my contact at ‘First Place’ who was so immensely helpful at assisting me in recruiting interviewees (and always greeted me with a smile!). Most of all, I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the hard-working temps that volunteered some of their precious time to be interviewed. To my friends, too numerous to mention and all of whom have bolstered me along the way (despite frequently questioning the sanity of anyone who chooses to do more academic study!) I could not have got here without you. Particular thanks go to Emma Wilkinson, for listening to me rabbit on about my work for many hours whilst providing unwavering support! Thanks also to Sarah Dunn and Michelle Brown for forever boosting my confidence and to Jennifer Fellows, Alison Day and Kate Edwards for help with proofreading. I also owe a huge amount of thanks to fellow Leeds ‘PhD-er’ Ruth Patrick. Your friendship over the past five years has been invaluable and it has been great to share the trials and tribulations of both PhD and motherhood with you! To Julie, thank you for your continued encouragement and Geoff thanks not only for your support, but the many late-night debates! Steve, Katie, Paul, Dan and Sammy, thank you for keeping me going. To Suze, my furry little study companion, you deserve a mention too for all the mid-stress cuddles! Mum, watching you ‘survive’ on benefits, working 12 hours a day for a pittance in return throughout my teenage years was in hindsight, the first step to engaging my social conscience. Dad, you have always encouraged me to work hard and fight for what I believe in, and this has spurred me on. From my very first day at primary school, through college and university I have felt loved and supported in everything I have done. Thank you both from the bottom of my heart. To my Husband Dom, who has been there for me through the daily ups and downs of this PhD, supporting me emotionally (and financially) and continuing to believe in me, Thank you. The past five years have been a real rollercoaster for both of us, and I really could not have got through it without you. And to the sweetest little person in my life, my son Finley. Becoming a mother has reinforced more than ever how strongly I feel about creating a fair and just society in which to raise our children. It is to you, that this thesis is dedicated. 7 Introduction The life experiences of young people and the process by which they are able to transition from the comparatively vulnerable and dependent state of ‘childhood’ to the autonomy and stability typically associated with ‘adulthood’ has undergone a significant transformation since the late 1970s. Young people are often deemed to be at the forefront of emerging trends and periods of social change (Winlow and Hall, 2006) not least because youth sits ‘at the crossroads of social reproduction’ (Furlong and Cartmel, 1997:110) with broader processes of change and continuity observable in the views, experiences and aspirations of the young. The closing decades of the twentieth century provided a number of substantial social, political and economic changes which fundamentally altered this transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Today’s young people are confronted with a world so different to their parents that Furlong and Cartmel (1997:6) argue that it merits both ‘a re- conceptualisation of youth transitions and processes of social reproduction’. Negotiating the pathway from learning to earning and the clarity and accessibility of routes from education into the labour market have in the past, and still today, continue to structure and shape the ease of youth transitions. Young people’s engagement with paid employment ‘remains pivotal to much else’ (MacDonald, 2011:428) and the fairly sudden discontinuity of prescribed routes into the labour market alongside a decline in traditional patterns of socialisation has impacted upon the experience of being young on a number of levels. What was once a reasonably straightforward process of connecting oneself to local labour market opportunities upon completing formal education, a progression rendered largely unproblematic by both the relative availability of work and the clear demarcation (and limitation) of possible pathways, is now a more complex and protracted process. The reconfiguration of the labour market around new economic and political agendas, alongside an associated shift towards mass university participation, have both been crucial in altering this transitional process for young people, instigating new values, choices and risks. It is easy to overstate both the stability and security of paid work and the simplicity of youth transitions in the years prior to 1979. Despite the famous declaration that ‘most of our people have never had it so good’, (MacMillan, 1957, cited in Evans, 2010:unpaginated) the decades leading up to the neoliberal turn were still predicated on a restrictive and exploitative social structure that provided clearly demarcated occupational expectations and life prospects based on the traditional categories of class, race and gender. Transcendence or rejection of this established social order was highly unlikely if not extremely difficult. In addition, the outward political 8 commitment to ‘full employment’ and redistributive welfare masked regional and local labour market differences with higher rates of unemployment in areas such as Wales, Scotland and Northern England (Cairncross, 1992) and the persistence of concentrations of poverty (Abel-Smith and Townsend, 1965). Although studies demonstrate that initial labour market entry was accompanied by some anxiety and risk whilst young people settled into the world of work (Goodwin and O’Connor, 2007) the relative availability of secure employment and the ability of young people to sell their skills to employers with ‘a reasonable degree of continuity’ (Winlow and Hall, 2006:22) ensured a clear pathway from school into the labour market.

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