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This report is part of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project which studies the transition of several groups of young Australians from school into postsecondary education and/or work. It discusses changes in the patterns of participation over the last two decades and also addresses several policy and conceptual issues relevant to educational participation. These include rurality, ethnicity, the influence of socioeconomic background, part-time work, and the effect of schools and psychological factors. Findings of this survey include: 76 per cent of the 1995 cohort participated in Year 12 in 1998; females are more likely to participate in Year 12 than males and gender differences have grown with more young women participating in higher education than men; Year 9 students whose parents work in high status occupations and/or come from more educated backgrounds are more likely to continue on to Year 12; students from language backgrounds other than English are consistently more likely to participate in Year 12 and higher education; students living in non-metropolitan areas are less likely to participate in Year 12 and higher education; Year 12 participation is strongly associated with achievement in literacy and numeracy in Year 9; and occupational background, school type and achievement are not as strongly associated with participation in higher education as they once were. Show less

This report examines the labour market dynamics between 1996 and 2000 of a cohort of young Australians born in 1975. During this period, most of the cohort were either in postsecondary education and training, or establishing themselves in the labour market. The first chapter reports on their major activity (full time study, full time work, part time work, looking for work and ‘other’ activities) for each year between 1996 and 2000 (when they were 21 to 25 years of age) and also presents the cohort’s participation in education and training and their occupational profiles. The second chapter examines the year-to-year movement between activities and occupational group. The remaining chapters look at full time work, unemployment and marginal activities (unemployment, part time work and other activities excluding domestic responsibilities), respectively. These three chapters provide a breakdown of the proportions of time the cohort spent in each activity. Subsequently, the relationship between time spent in the activity and a range of social background and educational labour market variables is examined. The third section examines the influences of qualifications and labour market experiences on the proportion of time spent in these activities. The report demonstrates the benefits of gaining full time employment early in the school-to-work transition. Experience of working full time has substantially stronger positive effects on the labour market outcomes of 21 to 25 year olds than completion of Year 12 or postsecondary qualifications and training. In terms of policy, the analyses indicate that governments should emphasise securing full time employment and the avoidance of unemployment for those young people who may be at risk of spending much of their time in marginal activities. The report also demonstrates that there is not a large homogenous group of young people excluded from full time work. There is considerable movement across activity states although full time is the most stable. The proportion of young adults who are engaged in marginal activities for long periods is relatively small being less than 10 per cent of the cohort. Show less

This report forms part of the research program Longitudinal surveys of Australian youth (LSAY), conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and financially supported by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).

In this report the relationship of well-being (happiness) with a variety of demographic and economic factors among Australian young people are examined. On the basis of past research, important influences include gender, income, marital status and employment status. Data from the Youth in transition study, a longitudinal study of four nationally representative cohorts of young people (born in 1961, 1965, 1970 and 1975) were analysed and the impact on well-being of gender, income, occupational status, employment status, marital status, the presence and number of children and residence was investigated. Changes over time were examined, both ageing and cohort effects. The research indicates that for young Australians, employment, relationships and sufficient income are important for maintaining subjective well-being and happiness, with the influences of some of these factors being sensitive to age and cohort effects.

Further publications arising from this research program may be found at: TD/TNC 56.13; TD/TNC 56.15; TD/TNC 56.16; TD/TNC 59.91; TD/TNC 59.139; TD/TNC 59.140; TD/TNC 59.141; TD/TNC 60.25. Show less

The increasing emphasise on and expansion of education and the importance of qualifications raises the issue of what happens to those who do not complete their secondary school education. This report, focusing on early school leaving in Australia forms part of the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) research program. It focuses on students who leave school before the beginning of Year 11. The first part of the paper examines the social and demographic characteristics of early school leavers. The second part reports on the reasons for early school leaving and the third part of the study compares school leaving with social background, demographic, social and attitudinal factors. It also focuses on the effect of individual schools on early school leaving. The final section of the study examines the post-school activities of early school leavers focusing on their labour force participation.

Further publications arising from this research program may be found at: TD/TNC 56.13; TD/TNC 56.14; TD/TNC 56.15; TD/TNC 56.16; TD/TNC 59.91; TD/TNC 59.139; TD/TNC 59.140; TD/TNC 59.141; TD/TNC 60.61 and TD/TNC 60.62. Show less

The purpose of this article is to examine how accurate pessimistic accounts of the school-to-work transition are, given the substantial decline in unemployment since the 1991/93 recession. This examination is limited to young people who did not go to university, a group which is more likely to be experiencing problematic school-to-work transitions. The analyses use data from the first eight waves of data from the 1995 Year 9 cohort in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project. In the years after leaving school, an increasing majority are in full-time work and there is considerable movement into full-time work from part-time work and unemployment. Furthermore, each year full-time workers show increases in job status and earnings. Only a small minority of non-university bound youth have problematic school-to-work transitions. These analyses also suggest that the policy emphasis on increasing participation in vocational education is misplaced. Except for apprenticeships and then only among males, vocational education does not appear to promote full-time employment. Show less

There are concerns that a proportion of young people, especially those who do not complete secondary schooling, are at risk of experiencing long periods of unemployment, interspersed with short periods of low skilled, part-time or casual employment in their transition from school to work. This paper looks at the following issues: (1) Who are the early school leavers? (2) What are the reasons given by young people for school non-completion? (3) What are the consequences of school non-completion? Data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project is used and the paper concludes with a brief discussion of areas requiring policy attention.

The volume of conference proceedings is indexed at TD/ERD 87.162. Individual papers presented at the conference are indexed from TD/TNC 68.426 to TD/TNC 68.440. Show less

The research examines the effects of macroeconomic conditions and a range of individual characteristics on the education and employment outcomes of youth, and how these outcomes change with age. In addition, the project examines the extent that educational qualifications protect against the impact of macroeconomic conditions. Based on the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) and the Youth in Transition surveys (YIT), the project jointly studies education and work to capture the whole picture of young people’s school-to-work transition. The aim is to answer the following research questions: What are the determinants of education and employment outcomes of youth? To what extent are macroeconomic conditions affecting their study-work decisions? Do these effects depend on the education level?

Published summary reprinted by permission of the copyright owner. Show less

The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program studies the progress of several groups of young Australians as they move from school into post-secondary education and work. This technical paper discusses issues relating to socioeconomic status and the measurement of education and labour market outcomes and provides rationales for the decisions taken for analysing data in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project. Show less

LSAY briefing, produced by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is a series which aims to provide summaries of findings from ACER research and to identify some of the implications for policy and further research. It is based on data from ACER's Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) project and key LSAY reports. This issue, which examines whether students' educational performance is influenced by where they live, highlights that: there are small differences between the literacy and numeracy performances of rural and urban students in the middle years of their education; there are only slight differences in their choice of subjects in Year 12 between rural and urban students, with rural students studying in the areas of health, home science and agriculture more frequently than their urban counterparts; the participation of young people living in regional and remote areas in Year 12 and higher education is lower than that of their urban counterparts; and the rates of participation in VET for rural people are at least as high as in urban areas. Show less

This report forms part of the research program Longitudinal surveys of Australian youth (LSAY), conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and financially supported by the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).

Using three of the Youth in transition cohorts from the LSAY, hourly earnings among Australian young people are examined. The influences on hourly earnings are analysed in three sections: firstly, looking at the correlations between hourly earnings and measures of social background and school factors, qualifications and labour market history; secondly, modelling hourly earnings using a four step procedure adding sequentially, social and demographic background factors, school factors including school sector and school achievement, qualifications and year 12 completion, and employment history; and finally focusing on both ageing and cohort effects by examining the impact on hourly earnings of gender, schooling, qualifications and employment experience at particular ages.

Further publications arising from this research program may be found at: TD/TNC 56.13; TD/TNC 56.14; TD/TNC 56.15; TD/TNC 59.91; TD/TNC 59.139; TD/TNC 59.140; TD/TNC 59.141; TD/TNC 60.25. Show less