Design
Our research aims to go beyond the state of the art by implementing a comparative, multidimensional, and integrated framework. Thus, the overall design of the proposed research has three main components that are at the same time crucial performance and research indicators, which will help to ascertain the progress made by our consortiums in regard to previous research:
• A multidimensional theoretical framework that combines macro-level (institutional), meso-level (social-structural and organizational), and micro-level (individual) explanatory factors while taking into account various dimensions of exclusion (political exclusion, social exclusion, and individual well-being);
• A cross-national comparative design that includes European countries with different institutional approaches to unemployment: the two largest west European countries (France and Germany), a southern European country (Italy), a Scandinavian country (Sweden), an eastern European country and new member state of the European Union (Poland), and a non-member country (Switzerland);
• An integrated methodological approach based on multiple sources and methods (an analysis of state policies and practices towards unemployment, a survey of organizations active in the field, a survey on representative samples of young long-term unemployed and precarious youth, a series of in-depth interviews with young long-term unemployed, an analysis of EU policies and practices towards unemployment, and focus groups with stakeholders in order to spell out the policy and practical implications of the research).
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