Whatever happened to the young workers? Change and transformation in 40 years at work

In this paper, we explore what happened to the young workers featured in the classic text Young workers: From school to work. In this book, the authors made predictions about the labour market outcomes and careers for the young people in their study, classifying them into three groups: the ‘careerless’, the ‘short‐term careers’ and the ‘extended careers’. Here we use re‐discovered data in the form of six vignettes to see if Ashton and Field's predications came true. The respondent's stories reveal that their work histories did not follow exactly the linear and smooth trajectories predicted for them. Instead, careers were characterised by greater levels of individual complexity, insecurity and ‘critical moments’ that could not be fully explained by family background, social class or education.