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Education and work: Pathways from school to work
Leaving school EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS OF PERSONS WHO WERE IN YEAR 10 IN 1986-1988 (a) Had completed a higher education qualification by the seventh post-school year, or were enrolled in higher education in the seventh post-school year. Includes some people who entered higher education without completing year 12 (2% of those who were in year 10). Source: Australian Council of Educational Research 2001, Patterns of success and failure in the transition from school to work in Australia, (LSAY Research report no. 18), ACER, Camberwell. Students’ literacy and numeracy skills in the middle school years have shown one of the strongest associations with subsequent participation in education.4 Those more likely to leave school early, in both the late 1980s and mid-1990s, include young men, students from families of lower socioeconomic status (as indicated by parents’ level of education and occupation), those located in rural areas, and those who attended Government schools. Those who spoke a language other than English at home or who were born overseas were less likely to leave school early. 3, 4 (See also Australian Social Trends 2001, Trends in completing school) Pathways after leaving school Close to 57% of those students who had been in year 10 in the late 1980s did not enter higher education. Over seven post-school years, many of these individuals moved between different activities such as education and training, full-time and part-time work, unemployment, and activities outside the labour force such as raising children. Seven years after leaving school, 69% of those who did not enter higher education could be said to have taken a relatively smooth pathway from school to full-time work. The mix of experiences in the path to full-time work varied between young men and women, and between school non-completers and completers. Of those young people who did not enter higher education, 20% went straight from school into full-time work and remained in full-time work over the period of the study.This was more common among young women than young men and most common among female completers (25%). The training and work pathway - undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship (where training is employment-based and under contract) and then continuing in full-time work for the remainder of the seven years - was the pathway of 13% of those who did not enter higher education. The training pathway was especially common for male non-completers, 30% of whom took this path compared with 16% of male completers. In contrast, training and work was an uncommon pathway for young women, involving 4% of female completers and 4% of female non-completers. A further 12% of those who did not undertake higher education undertook full-time study before working. This study was principally in non-degree courses at an institute of TAFE and might include some students who after leaving school undertook courses equivalent to senior secondary school. In contrast to training, the study and work pathway was rare for both male and female non-completers (3% and 1% respectively) but accounted for 17% of male and 14% of female completers. Of those who did not enter higher education, 24% experienced some kind of relatively brief interruption (lasting less than two years) before entering full-time work and staying in it for the remainder of the seven post-school years. This pathway was almost equally common for young men and women, and for completers and non-completers.
PATHWAYS(a) AFTER SCHOOL OF PERSONS WHO WERE IN YEAR 10 IN 1986-1988, WHO DID NOT ENTER HIGHER EDUCATION
Source: Australian Council of Educational Research 2001, Patterns of success and failure in the transition from school to work in Australia, (LSAY Research report no. 18), ACER, Camberwell. In total, 69% of young people who did not enter higher education were involved in one of the four relatively smooth pathways to work discussed above. The remaining 31% of all those who did not enter higher education spent a considerable portion of their post-school years unemployed, working part-time, or out of the labour force (without studying full-time). Four more pathways summarise the post-school activities of these young people. The most common of these pathways involved 13% of those who did not enter higher education. They experienced an extended period in one of the above activities, or a combination of them, but had nevertheless experienced at least three years in full-time employment by the time they approached their mid-twenties. Male non-completers were less likely to be in this pathway (9%) than female non-completers (15%) and male and female completers (14% and 15% respectively). However, male non-completers were the most likely of the four groups of young people to have been in another pathway, that of being mainly unemployed in the first seven post-school years (13% compared with 5% to 7% of the other three groups). The remaining two pathways accounted for those mainly working part-time and those mainly not in the labour force. Young women were predominant in these pathways. Working part-time in at least four out of the first seven years after school was the experience of 7% of female non-completers and 6% of female completers, compared with 3% of both these groups of young men. Being outside the labour force (and not studying full-time) for at least four out of seven post-school years was the experience of close to one-quarter of female non-completers (23%), but was considerably less common for female completers (7%), and quite rare for males (1 to 2%). Over half of the females in this pathway had children in or by their first post-school year (57%). By the seventh post-school year 86% had children. Each year between one-third and one-half of those in this pathway who did not have children gave their main activity as domestic duties. In each year, well over half of those in this pathway who did not have children said they would work if a job was available - that is they could be considered as marginally attached to the labour force. Experiences associated with different pathways As well as experiences of employment, training or study, there were other differences for young people following different pathways, including differences in job mobility, earnings, time spent unemployed and occupation. Job mobility was high among those young people who were in year 10 in the late 1980s and who did not enter higher education. Excluding those who were mainly unemployed or mainly not in the labour force, these young people on average had five jobs over seven post-school years. Job mobility was lowest (with an average of four jobs) among those who took either the full-time work pathway or the training pathway. Job mobility was highest for those in the pathway of extended interruption then work and the pathway of mainly part-time work (an average of over six jobs in each case.) Of the pathways leading to full-time work, that of training then work resulted in the highest average weekly earnings seven years after leaving school ($570), followed by study then work ($543) and full-time work only ($522). Those who experienced either a brief (up to two years) or extended (up to four years) interruption in the transition to full-time work had the lowest average weekly earnings seven years after leaving school ($503 and $449 respectively). Factors affecting the average earnings of these latter two groups may include a relative lack of work experience and of qualifications. The average time spent unemployed was naturally highest for those in the pathway of being mainly unemployed (49 months). However, spending a relatively long period unemployed out of the seven post-school years was also a feature of other pathways. For those who experienced an extended interruption (over two but less than four years spent out of full-time work or full-time study), the average time spent unemployed was 16 months. The average time spent unemployed was 13 months for those mainly in part-time work, 11 months for those mainly not in the labour force and 9 months for those who experienced a brief interruption (up to two years when they were not in full-time work or study). PERSONS WHO WERE IN YEAR 10 IN 1986-1989, WHO DID NOT ENTER HIGHER EDUCATION: TYPE OF OCCUPATION(a) SEVEN YEARS AFTER YEAR 12(b) BY PATHWAY
(b) Seven years after the calendar year in which those who completed school were in year 12. Source: Australian Council of Educational Research 2001, Patterns of success and failure in the transition from school to work in Australia, (LSAY Research report no. 18), ACER, Camberwell. The occupations that people had seven years after school tended to vary by pathway. There were also differences in occupations between men and women in the same pathways, consistent with the general pattern of the workforce. Some pathways are strongly associated with certain types of occupation, the most obvious being that of the training and work pathway which was strongly associated with a skilled trade (66% of young men in this pathway and 55% of young women). However, skilled trades generally employ a greater number of men than women and many young men arrived in skilled trades by other pathways. For example, more than a quarter of young men in the pathways of brief or extended interruptions then full-time work were in a skilled trade occupation in the seventh post-school year. The study then work and the full-time work pathways were more strongly associated than other pathways with a managerial, professional or technical occupation, especially among young men (with 42% and 30% of young men in these respective pathways in this broad occupational group). Among young men the pathways of brief or extended interruption then full-time work were associated with being a labourer (19% and 25% respectively were labourers compared with around 10% of those in other pathways). The extended interruption then work pathway was also associated with being a labourer among young women (21% were labourers compared with 6% or less of women in other pathways). Undertaking higher education School leavers in the 1990s MAIN ANNUAL ACTIVITIES OF PERSONS WHO HAD BEEN IN YEAR 9 IN 1995 WHO DID NOT ENTER HIGHER EDUCATION
Source: Australian Council of Educational Research 2003 School leavers in Australia: profiles and pathways, (LSAY Research report no. 31), ACER, Camberwell. In 2000, unemployment was more common for non-completers than completers (11% compared with 6%) and non-completers were also more likely than completers not to be in the labour force (9% compared with 4%). However, most non-completers had used the years when most of their contemporaries were at school to gain experience in the workforce, and many also gained qualifications. By 2000, 67% of non-completers were in full-time employment as were 61% of completers. Of those in full-time employment, non-completers had the higher median weekly income in 2000 ($430 for early school leavers, $400 for later school leavers and $350 for school completers). By 2000, non-completers also had lower job mobility than completers, with 67% of early school leavers and 63% of later school leavers in the same job as the previous year, compared with 57% of school completers. A greater proportion of non-completers than completers combined full-time work with some kind of study or training in 2000 (28% compared with 22%) and by 2000, 50% of early school leavers and 34% of later school leavers had completed some kind of qualification. Earlier research from the longitudinal surveys has shown similar short-term advantages for non-completers. For example, if compared in the first few years after leaving school, those who left without completing year 12 had higher average earnings than completers. However, in the long-term, the average earnings of school completers overtook those of non-completers.1 Endnotes
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