Compulsory part-time work at the beginning of a career: has the crisis made the situation worse?

Summary One out of three young people works part-time at least once during the seven years of their early career. Part-time work may be a step in the integration process or it may reflect difficulties in entering the labor market. Indeed, two-thirds of young people working part-time would like to work full-time. We compare the trajectories of entry into the labor force over a period of seven years for two generations of first-time school leavers in metropolitan France: the 2004 generation, surveyed in 2011, and the 1998 generation, surveyed in 2005. On the basis of this comparison, we propose a difference-in-difference methodology to assess the causal impact of the crisis on the integration pathway of these young people. Several elements emerge from the analysis.