OECD (2000)

E1
Labour Force Participation by Level of Educational Attainment
New Zealand). On the other hand, in countries where agriculture is still an
important sector of employment (Greece, Korea, Portugal and Turkey),
unemployment rates of persons without upper secondary education tend to
be low. Finally, where overall labour-market conditions are particularly
favourable (Austria and Norway), jobs appear to be available for workers with
low as well as high educational attainment (Table E1.2).
Youth unemployment by level of educational attainment
Young people represent the principal source of new skills in our societies.
In most OECD countries, education policy seeks to encourage young people to
complete at least secondary education. Since jobs on offer in the labour market
require ever higher skill levels, persons with low attainment are often
severely penalised in the labour market. Despite progress in attainment levels,
many young people are subject to unemployment. Differences in unemployment
to population ratios by level of educational attainment are an
indicator of the degree to which further education improves the economic
opportunities of any young man or woman.
Unemployment rates for
persons with less than
secondary attainment
are very high in a
number of countries
and, although falling
with age, tend to persist
at relatively high levels.
In OECD countries, the unemployment rate of 20 to 24-year-olds with less
than upper secondary attainment was on average 19 per cent in 1998. It was
about 10 per cent or less in Austria, Denmark, Iceland, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Portugal and Turkey and about 30 per cent or more in Belgium, Finland, France,
Italy and Spain. Unemployment among persons 25 to 29 years of age who have
not completed secondary education is a persistent phenomenon; it was still
about 15 per cent on average in 1998, and reached around 25 per cent or more in
the Czech Republic, France and Spain.
In most countries, unemployment rates decline with increasing age and
educational attainment. Tertiary graduates 25 to 29 years of age have favourable
employment prospects, with unemployment rates of less than 7 per cent
in 17 out of 26 OECD countries. Rates nevertheless remain high in a small group
of countries, exceeding 10 per cent in France and Turkey, and 20 per cent in
Greece, Italy and Spain. It is in these same countries that unemployment differences
between men and women are the greatest, women having higher
rates in all cases (Table E1.3a).
High unemployment
rates among 25 to
29-year-olds are related
to the general state of
the labour market.
For those without upper
secondary education,
unemployment to
population ratios are
on average one and
a half times higher than
among upper secondary
graduates.
In general, the unemployment rate of 25 to 29-year-olds, in particular for
those with less than tertiary attainment, is closely related to the general state
of the labour market. In countries with high unemployment rates among
workers of prime age, rates for 25 to 29-year-olds with secondary attainment
are also high.
Upper secondary completion reduces, on average, the unemployment to
population ratio (that is, unemployment as a percentage of the entire age
cohort) of 20 to 24-year-olds by about 5 percentage points, and that of 25 to
29-year-olds by about 4 points (Chart E1.4). In 18 out of 26 countries, the unemployment
to population ratio among young people aged 20-24 years is less
than 10 per cent if they have completed upper secondary or post-secondary
non-tertiary education. In only eight countries does this proportion remain
below 10 per cent among those without upper secondary attainment. Since
upper secondary completion has become the norm in most OECD countries,
many young persons who do not complete this level can expect to have
employment problems throughout their working lives (Table E1.3b).
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