Regional Formation and Development Studies

he article examines the process of youth transition from the education system to the labor market in Lithuania. It discusses the context of social policy and the regulation of legal and strategic documents. The main focus is on the European Union’s Youth Guarantee program, aimed at reducing youth unemployment, particularly among NEET (youth not in employment, education, or training). The article addresses the theoretical assumptions of the transition process and analyzes various theoretical perspectives, such as status change and human capital theory, which are used to assess youth integration into the labor market. In the Lithuanian context, the transition from the education system to the labor market is not a linear process. Youth transition is often accompanied by periods of unemployment and inactivity. The article distinguishes three youth segments: labor market-active youth, inactive individuals (studying but not working), and NEET youth. Special attention is given to the NEET indicator, which has increased over the long term in Lithuania, although it has fluctuated in different periods. The study also highlights the connections between youth employment and unemployment indicators with the NEET group, as well as correlational relationships showing that fluctuations in youth unemployment rates are closely related to changes in the NEET indicator. Additionally, the impact of educational attainment on youth employment is analyzed, noting that higher education does not always ensure successful employment. The article provides conclusions and recommendations on how to improve youth opportunities for successful integration into the labor market.

The issue of active citizenship is very topical in modern society. Particular attention is paid to the promotion of civic activity by youth and the creation of positive experience. National surveys show increasing engagement among young people in various activities, but they also show that young people are more likely to notice and see the threats posed by active citizenship. Therefore, the article aims to research the attitude of young people towards an assessment of active citizenship in society, the threats and benefits it brings. Qualitative research methods were used to gain a detailed and comprehensive understanding of attitudes: analysis of literature, focus group discussion, and content analysis. In the discussions, informants mentioned most often that citizenship is viewed both positively and negatively (especially in relation to political activity). The study revealed that when discussing the risks of active citizenship, young people mentioned most often the physical threats to the health and life of an active citizen when performing compulsory or voluntary military service. Other possible active citizenship threats indicated were: provoking intolerance and encouraging confrontation between different groups. The discussion also identified the perceived and noticed benefits of active citizenship to young people. Those most frequently mentioned by the informants were: helping groups or professions in difficulty; creating a better environment through basic putting in order and doing one’s duty. Some of the statements by the informants show that examples of active citizenship create a sense of community and tolerance, as well as being ‘contagious’ (setting an example) and encouraging young people to join various organisations.

This article examines the attitudeof young people of age 18 to 30 from Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Norway towards the national costume. The aim of this article is to analyze and determine how national costume is appreciated by the youth of countries mentioned before. The article briefly presents the preconditions for the emergence and creation of a nationalcostume; it analyzes what kind of information is lacking about national costume. The research was made in 2017-2018. Information was provided by 156 respondents. In conclusion, the worst situation is is between Finnish youth and the deepest traditions of costume‘s wearing has Norway. The results of Lithuanians reveal that national costume is not very important tradition, Latvians show the growing interest in the costume.

This study is focused on social media in China and its influence on youth civic participation. In China, a trend of increasing usage of social media platforms has been observed, in particularly WeChat, Weibo, QQ, Douyin, and Meitu. The aim of this research is to explore the link between the use of these social media platforms and civic participation among the youth in China, specifically, whether social media platforms have positive effect on encouragement of youth civic participation. The use of social media platforms is measured by the number of social media accounts, the duration of usage of these accounts, and the average time spending on social media accounts weekly, while civic participation through social media is to measure both civic participation activities and its link with the social media usage.

Until the 2015 elections, youth policy in Poland was treated as a separate domain. There is no uniform legal basis concerned with the matters of young people. Youth rights are dealt with in several articles of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland as well as a number of Acts: on Public Administration Branches, on the Education System, on Higher Education, on Employment Promotion and Labour Market Institutions, on NFZ General Health Insurance, on Combating Domestic Violence, on Social Employment, on Public Benefit Organisations and Voluntary Service, along with the Labour Code and certain government regulations. The first consistent document concerned with youth issues was the National strategy for young people for 2003–2014, adopted in 2003. Thereafter, the matters of youth policy were discussed in the report entitled Youth 2011, the document Poland 2030 – Third Wave of Modernity, the Long-Term National Development Strategy, and the Government Program for Social Activity of Youth for the years 2015–2016. Following the 2015 parliamentary elections, youth issues were given a lower priority. In the election manifesto of PIS (Law and Justice party), much attention was devoted to family policy, with youth policy being regarded as part thereof. Consequently, on 13 February 2018, the Family, Senior and Social Policy Committee of the Senate of the Republic of Poland adopted a Resolution on “Integrated youth policy”, presenting it as one of the areas of family policy.