<![CDATA[Youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET) represents an important dimension of youth labor-market and socioeconomic vulnerability. This study examines the provincial socioeconomic, human-capital, and labor-market characteristics associated with youth NEET in Indonesia and explores how these associations vary across the pre-COVID-19, COVID-19, and post-COVID-19 periods. Using a balanced province-year panel covering 34 provinces over 2016–2025 (340 observations), the study estimates province fixed-effects models with standard errors clustered at the province level. Youth NEET is measured as the share of young people aged 15–24 who are not in employment, education, or training. The explanatory variables include poverty, male and female mean years of schooling, provincial GRDP, income inequality, hourly wages, and unemployment. The fixed-effects estimates show that hourly wages are negatively associated with provincial NEET in the full sample, while poverty and male mean years of schooling show negative associations during the COVID-19 period. After COVID-19, higher provincial GRDP is negatively associated with the NEET rate. The COVID-19 period indicator is positive and statistically significant, whereas the post-COVID-19 indicator is positive but statistically insignificant. Period-specific estimates indicate heterogeneity in the magnitude and direction of the associations, although differences in statistical significance across separate specifications should not be interpreted as formal differences in coefficients. The findings identify provincial conditions associated with youth NEET and provide evidence for integrated policy responses while avoiding causal claims about the effectiveness of specific interventions.]]>
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