The influence of school factors on young adult life

Early success in school, and completion of Year 12, are key influences on the employment and earnings of young Australians in their mid-twenties. Longitudinal data indicate that young people who do not master the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy in the early secondary years suffer higher unemployment and lower earnings a decade or more later, and that these disadvantages persist. Early school leavers are more likely to be unemployed, or experience marginal attachment to the labour market, in their first years after leaving school than those who complete Year 12 (Ainley, 1998). An unsatisfactory start in the labour market can be difficult to overcome. This is a particular concern in the Australian context where, despite improvements in school completion rates, early school leaving is still largely concentrated among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Results such as these underline the importance of early intervention to prevent failure at school, and intensive follow-up measures for school leavers experiencing problems in the labour market. Most of the findings presented in this paper draw on the three oldest cohorts from the Youth in Transition component of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY).

The volume from which this paper is taken is indexed at TD/LMR 85.674. Show less