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Social interaction has an effect on our decisions and possibilities, both at school and on the labour market. Interview-based studies show that social contacts work as an important source of information for employers and job seekers and that informal recruitment channels are important in the hiring process. Behaviour among student friends, neighbours, family and colleagues can also create social norms that affect one’s own behaviour in different respects. In order to understand to what extent social environments affect our behaviour and our possibilities at school and in working life, the research carried out in particular deals with:

-how social contacts affect individuals’ abilities to find and get jobs

-how differences in the supply of, and the use of, social networks create employment- and wage differences on the labour market

-how educational choices and school performance are affected by the behaviour of school friends

-how behaviour and norms in the social context (for example among family, colleagues and neighbours) affect individual productivity, sick leave behaviour and fertility decisions.