THE INCREASE IN THE GENDER GAP WITH AGE: AN ANALYSIS ON ITALIAN NEETS

In Italy, small gender differences are present among “young” NEETs (not in education, employment or training, 15-24 years), while the gender gap increases considerably among “older” NEETs (25-34 years). We analyze the socioeconomic factors that influence the NEET gender gap, which increases with age. We consider regional data on four groups of NEETs (by age and gender) adopting a system generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) estimator on a 2010-2018 panel dataset. Group analysis makes it possible to detect specific determinants (problems related to the study and work choices of young people) causes of the gap. Our results suggest that women are exposed to a higher risk of persistence in NEET status due to labor issues, while family/social obligations lose their influence with age. General economic and unemployment issues are connected to the NEET status mainly among men.