On November 21st, 2019 the Central Statistics Office published the Educational Attainment Thematic 2019 report. In the report they noted that the labour market status of people who had left school early was dramatically different to those who had remained in education.
In Quarter 2, 2019 54% of young people aged 18-24 were employed, 9% were unemployed and 36% were inactive. Only 27% of young people who had left school early were in employment, their unemployment rate was 25%, and 47% of them were deemed inactive.
Please note that the labour force consists of people who are employed and unemployed, and so the term ‘inactive’ captures everyone else, including people who are in education and training.
Looking at early school leaving from a European perspective, Ireland ranks fourth lowest among EU member states. In the EU-28 member states in 2018 11% of all 18-24 year olds were classified as early school leavers, in comparison to an Irish equivalent rate of 5%. The Irish rate has declined over the past fifteen years by 9%.
Looking at people aged 25-64, the impact of educational status on people’s employment status is evident. The employment rate for people in this age category whose educational attainment is ‘primary or below’ was 40%, in stark contrast to people with third level education, whose employment rate was 86%.
Looking at the unemployment rate for people aged 25-64, it is highest for people with ‘lower secondary’ education, at 7%, and lowest for people with third level, at 3%. In Q2 2019, men aged 25-64 years old with a primary education or below were four times as likely to be unemployed (8%) compared to males with a third level qualification (2%). The unemployment rate for men with a postgraduate qualification fell to 1%. Interestingly for women, the group with lowest unemployment rate, 2% are those with ‘primary or below’. While the two groups with the highest unemployment were women with ‘lower secondary’ or post Leaving Cert qualifications, at 7%.
Over the last ten years, there has been an increase in the proportion of those aged 25-64 years old with a third level education, from 37% in Q2 2009 to 47% in Q2 2019. This has been accompanied by a steady decrease in the proportion with primary education/no formal education from 13% in Q2 2009 to 5% in Q2 2019.
The percentage of males with primary education/no formal education decreased in the last ten years from 14% in Q2 2009 to 8% in Q2 2019. The corresponding proportion of females dropped from 11% to 6%.
If you wish to explore these figures in greater depth just follow this link https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/eda/educationalattainmentthematicreport2019/