The purpose of this research is to examine whether, for those who have left full-time education, a low-skill job provides them with a good start to their working lives. It was found that starting out in a low-skill job gives lower payoffs than starting out in a high-skill job. Five years after leaving full-time education, the wage penalty (after conditioning on education and other characteristics) still exists but this scarring effect diminishes over time. However, any job is better than having no job.
This report compares the outcomes for young people who complete certificate I or certificate II qualifications with the outcomes for similar individuals who are not participating in post-school education and training, using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth.
Pre-vocational programs, including VET in Schools, are increasingly providing a pathway into traineeships in the same way that pre-apprenticeships are an established route into apprenticeships in the traditional trades. This report uses data from the 2010 Apprentice and Trainee Destination Survey and finds that the benefits of pre-vocational programs are mostly apparent for early school leavers (especially those who leave school after Year 11) and trainees in sales, clerical and administrative, and labouring occupations.