Tackling educational inequality - CentreForum

Tackling educational inequality
1.4 WHY LOW ATTAINMENT MATTERS
Education and Employment
The level of qualifications obtained at school has a very high bearing
on subsequent earning power. If those with low levels of skills do find
employment, it is far more likely to be in lower paid work than those
with higher skill levels, as shown in figure 11.
The lower their qualification levels, the less chance young people have
of continuing into or preparing for employment: a 2004 survey from the
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) — recently re-named the
Department for Children, Schools and Families — found that 2 per cent
of young people with five or more good GCSEs were classified as not in
education, training or employment (NEET), compared with 39 per cent
of young people with no qualifications. 7
At worst, low skills can lead to long term unemployment. The accountancy
firm KPMG has estimated that those with very low literacy or
numeracy skills are up to eight times more likely to be living in a household
where both partners are out of paid employment than those with
good skills. 8 And 4 per cent of those who left school at 16 with very low
literacy had never worked. The effects of long term unemployment can
be severe, with proven detrimental consequences for individuals’ mental
and physical well being.
Figure 11 Gross mean hourly earnings of working age
employees, 2001-05
20
15
£
10
5
0
Degree
or higher
A Level
GCSE
A* to C
GCSE
D to G
No
qualifications
Source: DfES, ‘The level of highest qualification held by young people and adults: England
2005’, estimates from Labour Force Survey
18