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Spatial Mobility, Migration, and Living Arrangements pp 189–204Cite as

The Residential Independence of Italian and German University Students and Their Perception of the Labour Market

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Abstract

Social scientists increasingly agree that the different timings of the departure from the parental home in southern and northern Europe are shaped by the mutual influence of cultural norms and institutional structures. The findings presented in this paper provide insight into two new aspects, related to the respective national institutional structure, that have been frequently overlooked in previous research. From the analysis of qualitative interviews with university students and their parents in Italy and Germany (43 participants) it emerges that different kinds of networks and the subjective perception of meritocracy in the labour market influence the decision to leave home during education and in the job search. A labour market perceived as meritocratic can be a motivating factor for leaving home. Furthermore, the interview results point to the relevance of early residential independence as a preparation for spatial flexibility on the job market and as a source for exchange and creativity. The discussion of the findings raises the question of a possible influence of the early departure from the parental home on the development of economic growth and innovation capacity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    I will use the term ‘southern Europe’ for Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain, whereas the term ‘northern Europe’ refers to the continental, western and Nordic parts of the European continent (excluding Eastern Europe).

  2. 2.

    The young employee was the sister of a student participant. She participated in the interview spontaneously.

  3. 3.

    The interviews reflect the situation of the interviewees before the Italian debt crisis starting in 2011.

  4. 4.

    All names of interviewees have been changed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy

    Therese Luetzelberger

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  1. Therese Luetzelberger
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Correspondence to Therese Luetzelberger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany

    Can M. Aybek

  2. Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Johannes Huinink

  3. Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, VID/ÖAW and WU), Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria

    Raya Muttarak

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Luetzelberger, T. (2015). The Residential Independence of Italian and German University Students and Their Perception of the Labour Market. In: Aybek, C., Huinink, J., Muttarak, R. (eds) Spatial Mobility, Migration, and Living Arrangements. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10021-0_9

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