Fearing the future? Young people envisioning their working lives in the Czech Republic, Norway and Tunisia

On the backdrop of recent restructurings of the global economic order, the article examines youths' narratives on their prospective lives in the three countries Norway, Tunisia and the Czech Republic, with a particular focus on the youths' reflections on educational and job preferences. To what extent are uncertainties related to education and work challenges voiced in youth expressions? Analysing the subtle nuances in and differences between the narratives of the three youth groups uncovers the complex relationships between youth preferences and motivations on the one hand, and the opportunities afforded to them in their respective contexts, on the other. In each of the three cases institutional and economic factors, cultural ideas and accumulated experience from previous generations interact in distinct ways. To some degree our analysis of this interplay reveals traces of uncertainty. Unexpectedly, and more pronounced than the expressions of fear and anxiety, is the manifestation of the youth's ‘security situations’; i.e. what and who they see as their main source of trust and guarantor of their future well-being.