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Data from September 2012. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article presents European Union (EU) statistics related to transition from initial education to the first significant job and is based on the results of questions added to the standard EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) carried out in 2009 in the EU Member States, Iceland, Norway, Turkey and Switzerland in the context of an ad-hoc module on the 'entry of young people into the labour market'.

Main statistical findings

Figure 1: Average age when leaving formal education by educational attainment level, 2009
Figure 2: Average length of transition from school to work by educational attainment level, 2009
Figure 3: Levels of experience in the labour market since leaving education
Figure 4: Levels of experience on the labour market since leaving education, EU-27, 2009 (%)
Figure 5: Employment rates in selected countries, age 15-34, 2009 (%)
Figure 6: Non-employment rates in selected countries, age 15-34, 2009 (%)
Table 1: Average length of the transition from school to the first significant job, 2009
Table 2: Main results on the transition of young people into the labour market, 2009

First job within 5 months for tertiary graduates, a longer way for others

In 2009 the duration of the transition from initial education to the first significant job was 6.5 months on average in the EU-27. This duration varies considerably according to both the level of education – from 5 months tor tertiary qualifications to about 10 months for lower qualifications – and to the country.

On average young people left formal education in 2009 around age 21, from 17 for lower secondary education up to 24 for tertiary education. On a longer-term perspective – 5 years after having left formal education – about 72% of young Europeans aged 15-34 had a job in 2009 at the time of the interview. Among them about two persons out of three had been employed for more than a year or had a permanent contract.

Young people leave formal education around age 21

A first indicator on the diversity of transition patterns across the EU is the average age of people when leaving formal education for the last time.[1]

Figure 1 and Table 2 shed light on the following features across educational attainment levels:

  • The average age when leaving formal education for the last time was around 21 in the EU in 2009 (Table 2). The exit age for people having obtained upper secondary qualifications was around 20, close to the overall average i.e. whatever the education level (Figure 1).
  • People who obtained a qualification at tertiary level left the education system on average after the age 24. On the contrary, people with at most a lower secondary education level left around the age 17.
  • In most countries the age of leaving upper secondary education was close to the EU average (20 years old). The average exit age from upper secondary education was lower in Bulgaria, the UK and Turkey (18 years old).
  • The exit age from lower secondary education was below 16 and thus well below the EU average in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey.

Average length of the transition from school to work: 6.5 months at EU level

The level of the highest educational qualification has an obvious impact on the process of transition from school to work. At EU level, the average duration of the transition to the first significant job (measured as a job of at least 3-months duration in the survey) was 6.5 months in 2009 for all educational levels. It was 5 months for people with tertiary qualifications but double that for people with lower qualifications (about 10 months – Figure 2), and close to 7 months for the upper secondary level.

Three main groups of countries stand out when considering duration of the transition in Figure 2 and Table 1. Germany and Switzerland cannot be considered in this section due to lack of comparable data.

Countries with a performance level above the EU average

Some countries performed constantly better than the EU average across all educational levels. They are Iceland where the average length of the transition was 3.3 months, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 3.5 months), Ireland (4.3 months) and Sweden (4.4 months), to be compared to 6.5 months at EU level.

This is also in those countries that young people with a lower secondary education had the shortest period of transition: Sweden (4.3 months compared to 9.8 months for the EU), Ireland (5.4 months), the Netherlands and the UK (both 6.4 months) as well as Iceland (6.7 months).

Some other countries such as the Czech Republic (4.1 months), Estonia (4.2 months), Lithuania (4.3 months), Denmark (4.6 months) and Austria (4.9 months) also had a low overall average length of the transition. However the length of the transition was quite high for lower secondary education ranging from 8.1 months in Estonia, 8.5 months in Denmark, 8.9 months in Lithuania, 10.6 months in the Czech Republic to 12.0 months in Austria.

In the same Northern and Central European countries, the average duration of the transition was also far below the EU average (7.3 months) for people with vocational upper secondary qualifications with the shortest periods in Iceland (1.9 months), the UK (2.8 months), Denmark (3 months) and the Netherlands (3.1 months). In all these countries except the Czech Republic and Iceland, the transition was faster by 1 to 2 months for young adults with vocational upper secondary qualifications compared to those with general upper secondary qualifications.

Countries with a performance level close to the EU average

In Belgium, France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Finland and Norway the average duration of the transition was rather close to the EU levels (from 5.1 months in Luxembourg to 5.8 months in France).

As for young adults with tertiary education the length of transition was below the average except for Belgium. Transition of the population with at most a lower secondary level was particularly different across countries of group (ii) from 6.7 months in Portugal to 24.3 months in Slovakia.

In some of these countries, vocational upper secondary qualifications did not shorten transition periods compared to general upper secondary qualifications: Malta (9.2 months versus 5.7 months), Finland (7.0 months versus 5.0 months) as well as France and Portugal to a lesser extent.

Countries with a performance level below the EU average

In Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey the transition periods were longer at all education levels (from 8.2 months in Spain to 13.1 months in Greece) including for young adults with a tertiary qualification (from 7.0 months in Spain to 12.2 months in Greece)[2].

Young people in some Eastern and most Southern European countries faced longer transition periods than the EU average for secondary education levels in 2009. This feature was particularly pronounced for people with at most lower secondary education in Bulgaria (21.5 months) as well as in Poland (17.0 months), Cyprus (15.7 months), Slovenia (14.9 months), Italy (13.6 months) and Romania (12.5 months).

In those countries except Poland and Romania, the transition from school to work was shorter for young people with vocational upper secondary qualifications compared to those with general upper secondary qualifications. This was notably the case in Spain (7.9 months versus 10.2 months), Slovenia (9.4 months versus 12.5 months), Italy (10.3 months versus 11.4 months), Greece (12.9 months versus 15.8 months) and to a lesser extent in Cyprus (13.2 months versus 14 months).

One young adult out of 8 had limited or no work experience at all

A combination of information collected in the 2009 LFS ad-hoc module and the core LFS allows categorising experience in the labour market on a longer-term period (i.e. five years) by four levels (Figures 3 and 4).

These four categories are based on employment status at the date of the interview (employed or not employed) as well as on time spent with or without employment as follows:

  1. Employed people with good experience in the labour market: people in this group have been employed for more than a year or have a permanent job. They had a relatively smooth transition.
  2. Employed people with other types of jobs than those in group 1 i.e. some work experience (category "fairly good") gained through different contracts or jobs. They had generally little difficulties in the transition from school to work.
  3. Not employed people with a moderate level of experience: people in this group have no job but some past work experience and therefore some potential of integration into the labour market in the short or medium term.
  4. Not employed people with limited experience on the labour market: this group concern people with highest risk of exclusion from the labour market as they have not succeeded yet in their transition from school to work and have either been too long outside the labour market or do not have enough work experience.

About 73% of the people aged 15-34 who left education within the last 5 years (period of 2004-2009) had an employment at the moment of the interview in 2009. This percentage varied from 45% for people with a lower secondary education to 84% for tertiary graduates showing similar patterns to the analysis of the average duration of transition from school to work.

Among the employed people, about six persons out of ten had been employed for more than a year or had a permanent contract. They are classified within the group “good experience" on the labour market and presumably had a smooth transition from school to work. About 15% of young people had another type of employment: they are assigned to the group “fairly good experience”.

27% of people aged 15-34 who had left education within the last 5 years were not employed in 2009. About of half of these (12.4% of the whole population, i.e. one out of eight young adults) had a low potential of entry into the labour market i.e. had limited or no work experience at all. This was slightly more common among females (13% versus 11.8% for males).

Employment rates after leaving education over 80% in nine countries

Employment and non-employment rates presented by country in Figures 5 and 6 as well as in Table 2 allow contrasting the information provided earlier on the basis of durations of transition.

Performance above EU average

This group consists of countries with employment rates above the EU average of 73% for young people who left formal education during the last 5 years (see Figure 5).

The highest values were recorded in the Netherlands and Norway where 88% of young people had a rather good insertion on the labour market, followed by Switzerland (87%), Austria (8), Luxembourg (82%), Cyprus and Denmark (both 81%), Slovenia and Germany (both 80%).

In the United Kingdom, Sweden and Iceland, employment rates were around 76% but transition to the first significant job was fast compared to other countries: it took as low as 4 months or less for young people to find their first significant job in 2009 in Sweden (4.4 months) and the UK (3.5 months) as well as in Iceland (3.3 months).

In the Czech Republic, Denmark and Austria results were significantly above average apart from young people with at most lower secondary education (Table 1).

In Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Norway, high employment rates contrast with the longer duration of transition from school to work at the beginning of the career.

The proportion of young people with a permanent job or job tenure of 12 months and more was lowest in Portugal and Sweden and highest in Malta and Austria.

Unemployment rates for young people aged 15-24 have been increasing significantly in some countries of this group since 2008.

While Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Sweden and Finland had persistent high youth unemployment over the last years (around 20% or more – see Table 2), the 2011 rates were double 2008 ones in the Czech Republic and Cyprus (countries with levels below 10% in 2008).

The rates increased by 5 percentage points or more in Denmark Finland, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK from 2008 to 2010.

Performance below or close to EU average

This group consists of countries with employment rates below 73% in 2009. Turkey (50%), Italy and Spain (both 60%) had the lowest rates of access to employment among people leaving education within the last five years.

In the three Baltic countries as well as in Ireland, France, Hungary and Slovakia employment rates of young adults after graduation were below EU average in spite of durations of transitions usually close to EU average or even lower duration than average for Estonia and Ireland.

Bulgaria and Romania as well as some Southern European countries like Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey performed significantly worse than average for both duration of the transition and level of experience on the labour market.

Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Romania and Turkey had the highest shares of young people in the category 4 'limited experience' (19% or above, up to 33% in Turkey), which consists of persons without a job and limited or no work experience. Greece, France and Slovakia were below the EU average for this category but had persistent youth unemployment over the last years (around 20% or more – Table 2).

As for countries in the first group, unemployment rates have been increasing significantly in many countries of this group since 2008. Apart from first signs of improvement in Estonia in 2011, the 2010 and 2011 rates were as high as 26% or more in Ireland, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovakia. This suggests a further deterioration of transition processes presented above.

Data sources and availability

The European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) is a quarterly, large sample survey providing results for the population in private households in the EU, EFTA (except Liechtenstein), and the candidate countries. Conscripts in military or community service are not included in the results.

The sampling rates vary between 0.14% and 1.68%.

The figures in this publication are not seasonally adjusted. The concepts and definitions used in the survey follow the guidelines of the International Labour Organisation. Further information is available from the LFS dedicated section on Eurostat website.

The 2009 EU-LFS included an ad hoc module consisting of 11 variables on the entry of young people into the labour market as defined by Regulation 0207/2008.

  • Employment status
Active population: the economically active population includes those persons who are employed, and those who are unemployed.
Employed persons are persons aged 15 year and over — except ES and UK (both 16 and over), DK, EE, HU, LV, FI, and NO (all 15-74 years), and IS (16-74) — who during the reference week performed work, even for just one hour a week, for pay, profit or family gain or were not at work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent because of, e.g. illness, holidays, industrial dispute and education and training.
Unemployed persons are persons aged 15-74 — in ES, NO, UK and IS 16-74 — who were without work during the reference week, were currently available for work and were either actively seeking work in the past four weeks or had already found a job to start within the next three months.
Inactive persons are those who are classified neither as employed nor as unemployed.
The employment rate is obtained by dividing the number of persons in employment by the total population. The non-employment rate is obtained by dividing the number of persons either unemployed or inactive by the total population. The unemployment rate represents unemployed persons as a percentage of the active population.
  • Educational status
Formal education is defined as education provided in the system of schools, colleges, universities and similar institutions that normally constitutes a continuous 'ladder' of full-time education. It normally leads to a certification recognised by national education authorities.Three main groups of education attainment levels are used in this publication. They are based the ISCED-97 classification: people with at most lower secondary education (up to ISCED 3c short), those with upper secondary qualifications (from ISCED 3c long to ISCED 4) and those with tertiary qualifications (ISCED levels 5 and 6). The 2009 EU-LFS ad-hoc module provides breakdowns on orientation of qualifications at upper secondary level (general versus vocational) except in NO.

For more information see ISCED on Eurostat website.

  • Transition from school to work
The target group of the ad-hoc module is composed of the people aged 15-34. It allows considering people leaving education above the age 30 (e.g. students in long tertiary educational programmes). Focusing on people no longer in formal education avoids considering employment during studies (especially in quarter 3 which covers summer holidays).
The duration of the transition from school to work is calculated as the difference between the date when leaving formal education for the last time and the date when starting the first job of at least 3 months. Results refer to people who had a first significant job.
Most results in this publication are based on responses of people who left formal education within the last 5 years to avoid recall problems on dates of transition events. The 5-year period also appears to be the most appropriate threshold value given the sample size per country.
Information on the first significant job was not collected in a comparable way in Germany and Switzerland. EU-27 totals on transition are calculated without Germany accordingly.

Context

<context of data collection and statistical results: policy background, uses of data, …>

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Database

Educational attainment, outcomes and returns of education (edat)
Transition from education to work, early leavers from education and training (edatt)
LFS ad-hoc module 2009 - Entry of young people into the labour market (edatt3)

Dedicated section

Methodology / Metadata

Source data for tables and figures

External links

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ The LFS ad-hoc module asks for the date when leaving formal education for the last time. This avoids considering short periods of interruption of formal education (e.g. short stay abroad or employment in between two formal education programmes). As a consequence, the average exit ages from this survey may not correspond to the theoretical length of formal education at a given educational level.
  2. ↑ In some countries compulsory military or community service contributes to a longer average duration of transition. This is specially the case for Bulgaria (1.2 months), Greece (4.3 months), Cyprus (2.6 months) and Austria (1.5 months). Other countries have either few or no people in such cases.

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