Educational attainment,
early leaving from education and training, transition from school to work
version 17/01/2019
Complementary
methodological information
Section
2 – Early leavers from education and training and NEET – young people neither
in employment nor in education and training
EU data on early leavers from education and training are presented in the following tables on Eurostat's online database: edat_lfse_01, edat_lfse_02, edat_lfse_14 to edat_lfse_16 and edat_lfse_30.
EU data on NEET are presented in the following tables on Eurostat's online database: edat_lfse_18, edat_lfse_20 to edat_lfse_23, edat_lfse_28 to edat_lfse_29 and edat_lfse_35 to edat_lfse_38.
2.1 Calculation of the LFS indicators
a) Early leavers from education and training
This indicator is calculated as an annual average of quarterly EU Labour Force Survey data (LFS). See more information on this source in the following statistics explained articles:
- the EU Labour Force Survey – methodology (in particular, user guide for the coding)
- the
EU Labour Force Survey – main features and legal basis
- the
EU Labour Force Survey – data and publication (in particular, publication guidelines)
The indicator is derived from answers to the following LFS variables: the “level of educational attainment” (see section 1 of this webpage – variable HATLEV1D code ‘L’) and the educational variables EDUCSTAT and COURATT (neither in formal education nor in non-formal education and training).
Correspondence between HATLEVEL and HATLEV1D according to the ISCED97 (up to 2013) and ISCED2011 (from 2014 onwards):
|
|
ISCED97 |
ISCED2011 |
|
Low education (HATLEV1D = ‘L’) |
HATLEVEL = 00 to 22 |
HATLEVEL = 000 to 200 |
|
Medium education (HATLEV1D = ‘M’) |
HATLEVEL = 30 to 43 |
HATLEVEL = 300 to 400 |
|
High education (HATLEV1D = ‘H’) |
HATLEVEL = 51 to 60 |
HATLEVEL = 500 to 800 |
The numerator (POP_TGET) is defined as follows: HATLEV1D in ("L") and EDUCSTAT in ("2") and COURATT in ("2").
The denominator is the population of a given age group (POP) minus no answers (POP_BLK).
The rate is calculated as follows: RATE = 100 * [POP_TGET / (POP - POP_BLK)]
As regards the population of "no answers", POP_BLK considers two sub-populations: those who did not indicate their educational attainment level and those who declared having at most a lower secondary level but without replying to their participation in education activities in the last 4 weeks.
Therefore POP_BLK corresponds to HATLEV1D = " " or (HATLEV1D = "L" and EDUCSTAT = " ");
POP_BLK uses EDUCSTAT only to allow producing breakdowns by form of education and training. The main indicator is defined on non-participation in any education and training (EDUCSTAT and COURATT). A breakdown using non-enrolment in formal education only is also possible (EDUCSTAT only). Both need to have the same denominator to be comparable (i.e. the calculation of no answers is limited to EDUCSTAT). The same principle applies to the calculation of the indicator “NEET – neither in employment nor in education and training”.
b) NEET – neither in employment nor in education and
training
NEET stands for young people neither in employment nor in (formal or non-formal) education and training.
Like the indicator “early leavers from education and training”, this indicator is calculated as an annual average of quarterly EU Labour Force Survey data (LFS). See more information on this source in the following statistics explained articles:
- the
EU Labour Force Survey – methodology (in particular, user guide for the coding)
- the
EU Labour Force Survey – main features and legal basis
- the
EU Labour Force Survey – data and publication (in particular, publication guidelines)
The NEET indicator is derived from answers to the following LFS variables: the “ILO employment status” (variable ILOSTAT categories “not employed”, i.e. unemployed or inactive, ILOSTAT ≠ 1) and the educational variables EDUCSTAT and COURATT (neither in formal education nor in non-formal education and training).
The numerator (POP_TGET) is defined as follows: ILOSTAT not in ("1") and EDUCSTAT in ("2") and COURATT in ("2").
The denominator is the population of a given age group (POP) minus no answers (POP_BLK).
The rate is calculated as follows: RATE = 100 * [(POP_TGET / (POP - POP_BLK)]
As regards the population of "no answers", there are always responses to ILOSTAT in the LFS. POP_BLK considers only no answers to the education component.
Therefore POP_BLK corresponds to EDUCSTAT=" ".
Like the indicator “early leavers from education and training”, POP_BLK uses EDUCSTAT only to allow producing breakdowns by form of education and training. The main indicator is defined on non-participation in any education and training (EDUCSTAT and COURATT). A breakdown using non-enrolment in formal education only is also possible (EDUCSTAT only). Both need to have the same denominator to be comparable (i.e. the calculation of no answers is limited to EDUCSTAT). The same principle applies to the calculation of the indicator “early leavers from education and training”.
2.2 Comparability across countries and time series
Explanations for the main breaks in series (flags) are listed in a separate document.
Averages are calculated on the available quarterly LFS data except for the following results due to outliers or missing information on education in certain quarters:
NL 2000, EE 2005: average Q2, Q4
IT 2000: average Q2-Q4
AT 2000-2002: Q1
NO 2000-2002: Q2
From 2006, the LFS allows distinguishing students on holidays (EDUCSTAT = 3), which are not considered as early leavers from education and training and not as NEET. This has an impact mainly on quarter 3 data.
Averages were calculated without quarter 3 in some countries in order to increase comparability with data from 2006 onwards. In some countries the code EDUCSTAT = 3 was implemented few years later. The adjustment was performed beyond 2006 accordingly.
Averages without quarter 3 were made in the following cases: BG 2000-2002, DK 2000-2001, 2003, DE 2005-2007, EE 2000-2008, IE 2000-2007, EL 2000-2005, LV 2003-2005, HU 2000-2005, NL 2001-2002, FI 2000-2008, SE 2000-2005, UK 2000-2002, IS 2003-2008 and NO 2003-2005.
2.3 Analysis of the NEET results
The European Foundation for the Improvement
of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) produced a detailed report on NEET
in 2012 “NEETs: young people not in employment, education or training:
characteristics, costs and policy responses in Europe”.
The report is the main output of the
Eurofound project “Youth employment: Challenges and solutions for higher
participation of young people in the labour market”. Within the framework of
this project, Eurofound published other reports such as
- a “résumé” entitled “Young
people and NEETs in Europe: first findings”,
- a comparative analytical report
entitled “Recent
policy developments related to those not in employment, education and training
(NEETs)”,
and
- a report on “effectiveness of policy measures to increase the employment participation of young people” (see also the executive summary).
In 2016, Eurofound released the report “Exploring the diversity of NEETs”.
The NEET indicator is usually based on the age group 15-24 (for labour market statistics). When analysing NEET by educational attainment level, it is more adequate to focus on 18-24 as people 15-17 are often in formal education.
Defining an age bracket for young people depends on many factors starting with the national duration of studies. The definition of a NEET indicator and further EU targets would need to take into account the heterogeneity of the group of young people and the relevant policies which differ depending on the characteristics of the group.
The majority of the 15 to 17 years old are still in education, with a steep increase in employment rates starting from age 18. Keeping people in the formal education system and allowing them obtaining higher and more relevant qualifications is probably the main policy aim for the youngest. The issues might be rather different for those approaching the upper limit of the 15-24 age group by when most have started their transition into the labour market. Here, the educational attainment level is a critical factor. Improving the educational attainment level or obtaining additional qualifications would concern the low educated people in transition, who could be at a higher risk of social exclusion (e.g. early leavers from education and training), while facilitating the access to the labour market and assuring good fitting of the skills obtained during education to the labour situation would concern the medium or highly educated people.
Figure 1 below illustrates the three groups described above with the cut-off age 17 which is further discussed in the next paragraphs.
Figure 1: Groups to consider for the analysis of
exclusion among young people
|
Educational
attainment level / age |
15-17 |
18-24 |
|
At
most lower secondary |
Group
1 |
Group
2 |
|
At
least upper secondary |
Group
3 |
People aged
15-17
(group 1)
In most countries compulsory education lasts up to the age of 16. Youth aged 15-17 are mostly in education and the participation rate does not change significantly for this group when looking at it separately by individual year of age (from 98.5% for the age 15 to 94.4% for the age 17 at EU level in 2017). Until the age of 17 an individual is generally supposed to complete lower secondary education. Thus the age group 15-17 (the 17 taken for the people who delayed their education for some reason) should correspond to the group who is completing or has just completed lower secondary education. Additionally, employment in this group tends to be mostly related to an apprenticeship and this way is also closely connected with formal education.
People aged
18-24 (groups
2 and 3)
While it does therefore not make much sense to look at a breakdown by educational attainment level for the 15 to 17 years old, those above age 17 could well be divided into two groups by educational attainment level: youth with low educational attainment (at most lower secondary) and youth with medium and high educational attainment (at least upper secondary).
The rationale for such a breakdown is that both groups may require different policy measures.
a) People with low educational attainment who are NEET tend to have a particularly high risk of labour market and social exclusion, and the main objective would be most likely to get this group back into education and training. This policy is monitored by the Europe 2020 indicator “early leavers from education and training" and its employment breakdowns.
b) For the age group 18-24 with upper secondary and tertiary educational attainment, policies for those who are NEET should rather focus on facilitating entrance into the labour market or/and focusing on better orientation of the formal education system as the reason of unemployment or inactivity could be the lack of initial professional experience or the skills mismatch.
Remark on the analysis of the age group 18-19:
There is a
significant increase of employment from the age of 17 and of NEET people
wanting to work from the age of 18. In some countries however education is
compulsory until the age of 18 and not 16. Moreover, the typical age of completing upper secondary education is 18 or 19 in the
majority of the countries and this level of education is considered by many
countries as a minimum prerequisite for successful and full entry to the labour
market. These countries are better positioned for a NEET indicator defined on
the age group 18-24 as this group covers people aged 18-19 who are
participating in compulsory education and training or are completing an upper
secondary education programme.
Statistical evidence
The average EU-28 NEET rate of 10.9% for youth aged 15-24 translates into an absolute number of around 5.9 million people. The table below presents the distribution of this group according to the age subgroups and educational attainment expressed in thousands of persons.
Table 1: Number of youth
aged 15-24 neither in employment nor in regular (formal) education and
training, by age groups and highest educational attainment level (in thousands,
2017)
|
|
15-24 |
15-17 |
18-24 |
of which |
|
|
18-19 |
20-24 |
||||
|
At most lower secondary |
5898 |
448 |
2244 |
579 |
1665 |
|
At least upper secondary |
3206 |
558 |
2648 |
||
Excluding non-response on HATLEVEL
Source: EU Labour Force Survey,
annual averages
Table 1 confirms that at the age of 15-17, the group of people neither in formal education nor in employment is relatively small. The number of people aged 18-19 neither in formal education nor in employment is more than double. The real increase is observed for the population aged 20-24 (4.3 million compared to 1.6 million for the age group 15-19). Because of the duration of upper secondary education, the number of people neither in formal education nor in employment for the population aged 18-19 who completed at least upper secondary education is smaller than for the group with at most lower secondary attainment level.
2.4 Coherence between results on early leavers from
education and training and results on NEET
The chart below explains the relationship between NEET and the indicator "early leavers from education and training" for the age group 18-24 (EU-28, 2017).
Figure 2: Coherence between the indicators “NEET”
and “early leavers from education and training”
|
Population aged 18-24 |
In
employment |
NOT
in employment |
|
|
|
In
education and training |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOT
in education and training |
At
most upper secondary level |
At
most upper secondary level |
← |
Early
leavers from education and training |
|
Upper
secondary |
Upper
secondary and tertiary level |
|
|
|
|
|
|
↑ |
|
|
|
|
|
NEET
|
|
|