Page 35 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

points between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 in the Euro
area, to reach 18.4 %. In the first quarter of 2009, 4.9 million persons aged 15-24
were unemployed. In the first quarter of 2009 youth unemployment ranged from
6.0 % in the Netherlands to 33.6 % in Spain.
Higher unemployment rates and the associated social costs (e.g. increased
welfare payments) are not the only type of negative consequence of early school
leaving. Eurostat statistics show worrying results on the health and wellbeing of
school drop-outs. In Lithuania, nearly a third of people with a lower secondary
qualification at most have a long standing illness while the proportion is only
12 % for people with an upper secondary qualification. American studies have
shown that the life expectancy of early school leavers is 9.2 years shorter than
that of high school graduates (Youth Forum Jeunesse, 2008) and the mortality
rate of high school drop-outs is more than twice that of those with some college
education (Cutler and Lleras-Muney, 2006). There are several ways in which
more and better education influences health outcomes. For example, education
can change health-related behaviour, including decisions regarding diet, smoking
and alcohol consumption, and the better educated are more likely to exercise and
obtain preventive care (Psacharopoulos, 2007).
Young people not in education, training or employment also run a higher risk
of becoming involved in crime and anti-social behaviour than those engaged in
learning. A British study has found that nearly three in ten (29 %) male and one in
twelve (8 %) female drop-outs at the age of 16-18 were involved in crime
between the ages of 17-30, three times the rate among all young people (CBI,
2008).
It is also important to invest in support for this age group. Children and young
people represent the highest leverage point for investments to build human
capital because the benefits of investments have the longest possible period to
accrue (World Bank, 2009). This has been confirmed by many national studies.
For example, Ecorys in the Netherlands has calculated that the cost of early
school leaving for Dutch society can reach EUR 1.8 million per person over the
course of his/her lifetime.

3.2. Education-to-work transitions

The decisions a young person makes in the first few years after leaving
education have a huge impact on their future prospects. Although the initial
transition is only the beginning of a working life that normally lasts several
decades, many studies have shown that initial job outcomes have a lasting effect

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