Young women who leave school before finishing Year 12 could be unemployed almost five times longer than young women who have a degree, according to new research.
From education to employment: how long does it take?, published by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) examined the time it took young Australians to move from student to worker.
It found young women who leave school before completing Year 12 are likely to face more than 19 months of unemployment before getting their first ‘real’ job. In contrast, young women with degrees may well have a full-time permanent job in less than four months.
“Even when we account for a number of socio-demographic factors, the impact education has on job prospects is much greater for women”, says Professor Kostas Mavromaras from the National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University, and co-author of the report.
“Gender matters: young women and men start their working lives in different ways”.
Based on extensive information from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), analysis of the time it takes for young people to get jobs reveals that they fall into one of three categories. Over half find work quickly with little to no search time and are made up of young people who have completed a post-school qualification.
The second group, consisting of young people who have finished school but haven’t gone on to further study, can take up to two and a half years to get a job.
Of the third group, made up of young people who have not completed Year 12 or any post-school qualifications, 25% did not find a job in the timeframe covered by the survey.
“This group needs carefully designed strategies to help them engage in work or other pathways to gaining skills”, says Professor Mavromaras.
“In terms of helping people find work quickly, our study highlights that university and vocational education and training qualifications are both beneficial”.
Copies of From education to employment: how long does it take? are available from www.lsay.edu.au/publications/2373.html
This research was funded under the Research Innovation and Expansion Fund established by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to inform future youth policy and increase public awareness of LSAY.
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