IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nsr/niesrd/414.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Visualising the school-to-work transition: an analysis using optimal matching

Author

Listed:
  • Paolo Lucchino
  • Dr Richard Dorsett

Abstract

This paper studies the school to work transition in the UK with the aim of achieving a richer understanding of individuals’ trajectories in the five years after reaching school leaving age. By applying the technique of 'optimal matching' on data from 1991 to 2008, we group individuals' trajectories post-16, and identify a small number of distinct transition patterns. Our results suggest that while 9 out of 10 young people have generally positive experiences post-16, the remaining individuals exhibit a variety of histories that might warrant policy attention. We assess the extent to which characteristics at age 16 can predict which type of trajectory a young person will follow. Our analysis shows that, despite the apparent heterogeneity, virtually all at-risk trajectories are associated with a relatively small set of key 'risk factors': early pregnancy; low educational attainment and self-confidence; and disadvantaged family background. These characteristics are known to be strongly correlated across individuals and raise concerns about the degree of socio-economic polarisation in the transition from school to work.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Lucchino & Dr Richard Dorsett, 2013. "Visualising the school-to-work transition: an analysis using optimal matching," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 414, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:nsr:niesrd:414
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.niesr.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/dp414_0-7.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary Pollock, 2007. "Holistic trajectories: a study of combined employment, housing and family careers by using multiple‐sequence analysis," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(1), pages 167-183, January.
    2. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Duncan McVicar, 2010. "My Brilliant Career: Characterizing the Early Labor Market Trajectories of British Women From Generation X," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 38(3), pages 482-512, February.
    3. Claire Crawford & Lorraine Dearden & Costas Meghir, 2010. "When you are born matters: the impact of date of birth on educational outcomes in England," DoQSS Working Papers 10-09, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    4. McVicar, Duncan & Rice, Patricia, 2001. "Participation in Further Eduction in England and Wales: An Analysis of Post-War Trends," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(1), pages 47-66, January.
    5. Paul Ryan, 2001. "The School-to-Work Transition: A Cross-National Perspective," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(1), pages 34-92, March.
    6. Meschi, Elena & Swaffield, Joanna K. & Vignoles, Anna, 2011. "The Relative Importance of Local Labour Market Conditions and Pupil Attainment on Post-Compulsory Schooling Decisions," IZA Discussion Papers 6143, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Glenda Quintini & Thomas Manfredi, 2009. "Going Separate Ways? School-to-Work Transitions in the United States and Europe," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 90, OECD Publishing.
    9. Glen R. Waddell, 2006. "Labor-Market Consequences of Poor Attitude and Low Self-Esteem in Youth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 69-97, January.
    10. Martyn Andrews & Steve Bradley, 1997. "Modelling the Transition from School and the Demand for Training in the United Kingdom," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 64(255), pages 387-413, August.
    11. Gillian Paull, 2002. "Biases in the reporting of labour market dynamics," IFS Working Papers W02/10, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    12. Laurent Lesnard, 2006. "Optimal Matching and Social Sciences," Working Papers 2006-01, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    13. Paul Ryan, 2001. "The School-to-Work Transition: A Cross-National Perspective: Corrigendum," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 767-767, September.
    14. Hanushek, Eric A, 1992. "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 84-117, February.
    15. Corak,Miles (ed.), 2004. "Generational Income Mobility in North America and Europe," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521827607, November.
    16. Patricia Rice, 1999. "The impact of local labour markets on investment in further education: Evidence from the England and Wales youth cohort studies," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 287-312.
    17. Joshua Angrist & Victor Lavy & Analia Schlosser, 2010. "Multiple Experiments for the Causal Link between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(4), pages 773-824, October.
    18. Anyadike-Danes, Michael & McVicar, Duncan, 2005. "You'll never walk alone: Childhood influences and male career path clusters," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 511-530, August.
    19. C. Maré, David, 2006. "Constructing consistent work-life histories: a guide for users of the British Household Panel Survey," ISER Working Paper Series 2006-39, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tomasz Zgrzywa & Joanna Tyrowicz & Stanisław Cichocki, 2017. "Czynniki wpływające na czas poszukiwania pierwszego zatrudnienia," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 6, pages 31-56.
    2. Dorsett, Richard & Lucchino, Paolo, 2018. "Young people's labour market transitions: The role of early experiences," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 29-46.
    3. Sophie Hedges & Vahé Nafilyan & Stefan Speckesser & Augustin de Coulon, 2017. "Young people in low level vocational education: characteristics, trajectories and labour market outcomes," CVER Research Papers 004, Centre for Vocational Education Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paolo Lucchino & Dr Richard Dorsett, 2013. "Visualising the school-to-work transition: an analysis using optimal matching," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 414, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    2. Helena Corrales Herrero & Beatriz Rodríguez Prado, 2011. "Characterizing Spanish Labour Pathways of young people with vocational lower-secondary education," Post-Print hal-00712379, HAL.
    3. Åslund, Olof & Grönqvist, Hans, 2010. "Family size and child outcomes: Is there really no trade-off?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 130-139, January.
    4. Marianna Battaglia & Nina Pallarés, 2018. "Family Planning and Child Health Care: Evidence from a Permanent Aggressive Intervention," Working Papers. Serie AD 2018-03, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    5. Oliveira, Jaqueline, 2016. "The value of children: Inter-generational support, fertility, and human capital," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-16.
    6. Lucia Mýtna Kureková & Zuzana Žilinčíková, 2016. "Are student jobs flexible jobs? Using online data to study employers’ preferences in Slovakia," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Diebolt, Claude & Mishra, Tapas & Perrin, Faustine, 2015. "Did Gender-Bias Matter in the Quantity-Quality Trade-off in 19th Century France?," Lund Papers in Economic History 141, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    8. Zhou, Ying & Jia, Nan & Yang, Tianchi, 2021. "The quantity–quality trade-off related to investment in healthy human capital: New evidence from the implementation of the “selective two-child policy” in China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    9. Liang, Yun & Gibson, John, 2018. "Do siblings take your food away? Using China's one-child policy to test for child quantity-quality trade-offs," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 14-26.
    10. repec:cep:cepisp:is03 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Alison Booth & Hiau Kee, 2009. "Birth order matters: the effect of family size and birth order on educational attainment," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 22(2), pages 367-397, April.
    12. Christian N. Brinch & Magne Mogstad & Matthew Wiswall, 2017. "Beyond LATE with a Discrete Instrument," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(4), pages 985-1039.
    13. Chen, Qihui, 2021. "Population policy, family size and child malnutrition in Vietnam – Testing the trade-off between child quantity and quality from a child nutrition perspective," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    14. Jesper Bagger & Javier A Birchenall & Hani Mansour & Sergio Urzúa, 2021. "Education, Birth Order and Family Size [Family size and children’s education in Vietnam]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(633), pages 33-69.
    15. Chiara Cavaglia & Sandra McNally & Guglielmo Ventura, 2020. "Do Apprenticeships Pay? Evidence for England," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 82(5), pages 1094-1134, October.
    16. G. S. F. Bruno & M. T. Choudhry & E. Marelli & M. Signorelli, 2014. "Youth Unemployment: Key Determinants and the Impact of Crises," AIEL Series in Labour Economics, in: Miguel Ángel Malo & Dario Sciulli (ed.), Disadvantaged Workers, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 121-148, Springer.
    17. Jia, Nan & Zhou, Ying & Yang, Tianchi, 2021. "“Selective two-child” policy and household resource allocation," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Jianmei ZHAO & Hai ZHONG, 2019. "A Demographic Factor as a Determinant of Migration: What Is the Effect of Sibship Size on Migration Decision?," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(4), pages 321-345, December.
    19. Xiong, Feng & Zang, Leizhen & Zhou, Ling & Liu, Fei, 2020. "The effect of number of siblings and birth order on educational attainment: Empirical Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    20. Björn Nilsson, 2019. "The School-to-Work Transition in Developing Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(5), pages 745-764, May.
    21. Ponczek, Vladimir Pinheiro & Souza, André Portela Fernandes de, 2007. "The causal effect of family size on child labor and education," Textos para discussão 162, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nsr:niesrd:414. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Library & Information Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/niesruk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.