Institutional arrangements significantly influence school-to-work transitions (STWT). Theoretical explanations for how institutions influence STWT are based strongly on the ideal-typical distinction of internal labour markets (ILM), focusing on internal career progression within a single organization, or occupational labour markets (OLM), that emphasize external mobility across employers within OLM (Marczuk, 2024; Marsden, 1990; Maurice et al., 1986). However, how institutions influence STWT also depends on individual-level characteristics and the influence of institutional characteristics on STWT differs considerably between socio-demographic groups as depicted by the varying importance of formal education across institutional settings (Gangl, 2003). Also, case studies of Germany – considered an OLM with a strong vocational training system and highly stratified pathways between general and vocational education that provides smooth STWT – show that low-attainers face increased risks of long-lasting labour market exclusion (Brzinksy-Fay and Solga, 2016). This raises the question to what extent established institutional explanations and related indicators are suitable to explain cross-country variance in STWT of disadvantaged groups. This paper focusses a particularly disadvantaged group and examines cross-national differences in the risk of being „not in education, employment, or training” (NEET) among young people with and without disabilities and investigates how institutional contexts influence the duration of NEET-status among individuals with disabilities across 31 European countries. Several institutional indicators related to ILMs and OLMs are included as ‘classical’ explanations. These indicators are complemented with those relevant to explain challenging STWT of youth with disabilities. Using longitudinal data from the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), multilevel random slope regressions were employed with interactions between self-assessed ‘limitations in activities because of health problems’ – based on a social model of disabilities – and institutional indicators. The findings reveal that higher rates of vocational enrolment, tracking in special schools and increased incapacity spending effectively reduce NEET-length among individuals with disabilities. These results underscore the importance of institutional contexts in shaping STWT and highlight the need for more in-depth comparative research on the transitions of young people with disabilities.

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