UNEMPLOYMENT AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN CROATIA: PERSPECTIVE OF UNEMPLOYED YOUTH AT RISK OR WITH BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS

Main goal of this paper is to provide insight into perspective of unemployed youth at risk or with potential risks in enviroment, aboutstatus and experiance of being unemployed. Krounauer model of social excluasion was taken as the base for interpretation of riskfactors related to unemployment. Mentioned model is defi ned with six dimesions: exclusion from labour market, economic exclusion,social isolation, institutional exclusion, spatial and cultural exclusion. Five focus groups with 19 unemployed youth (age from 18 to27 years) from 4 cities in Croatia and from two types of institutions (croatian employment service and center for social welfare) havebeen conducted. Results implicate that unemployment represents important factor for integration and independence of youth, andrelevant risk factor especially for economical exclusion. However, result shows that unemployment does not lead to social isolation asthird key dimesion in social exclusion model. These results are, to some extant, similar to results in other countries in EU, especiallyin south-east European countries (Italy, Spain, Greecee) where research results show that unemployment do not neccessarily leads tosocial exclusion due to the strong family and friends support. Results can be used for the creation of public strategies in coping withrisk of (longterm) youth unemployment and also with risk of their social exclusion.