Welfare Regimes, Subnational Territories and Dynamics of School‐To‐Work Transitions

ABSTRACT Comparative research on school‐to‐work transitions (SWT) mainly focused on cross‐country differences, while territorial variations among sub‐national territories in youth labour market and transitions outcomes have been underexplored. In this paper, we investigate the impact over time of national institutional configurations and regional contextual traits on subnational school‐to‐work transitions outcomes, combining comparative welfare and SWT research with studies on regional economics. Our findings reveal that SWT evolves conditionally on the interaction between national welfare institutions and regional socio‐economic contexts. The analysis identifies regime‐specific sensitivity to territorial human capital concentration, with Sub‐protective and post‐socialist regimes showing greater variability across the human capital distribution, while Employment‐centred and Universalistic regimes demonstrate more consistent outcomes.