Is Mental Health a Predictor for a Smooth School-to-Work-Transition? A 20-Month Follow-Up Study of Brussels Youth

The Brussels Capital Region knows consistently high youth unemployment already since the 2008 Great Recession. In that context, the aim of this paper is to investigate if the mental health status of young urban labor market entrants affects their school-to-work-transition in the subsequent 20 months. The study is based on a primary data collection among Brussels’ youth in the transition from education to employment (2015; 18- to 29-year-olds; N = 540) combined with administrative follow-up data of 20 months between 2015 and 2017 (N = 540). Labor market trajectories during the follow-up period consisted of combinations of the following states: ‘unemployed’, ‘employed’, and ‘participating in active labor market policies’ (i.e. coaching, training and internship). Based on the combinations of these states, our results revealed 6 different school-to-work-trajectories: ‘unemployed’; ‘stable employment’; ‘delayed employment’; ‘unemployed with guidance’; ‘set back to unemployment’ and ‘drop-out’. A multivariable multinomial logistic regression showed that men in ‘delayed employment’ had significantly poorer mental health than those in ‘stable employment’. In conclusion, our results showed that there is an association between mental health when entering the labor market and the type of school-to-work-transition.