OECD (2000)

E1
Labour Force Participation by Level of Educational Attainment
to the labour market as those entering the labour market after leaving the education
system. They are usually seeking part-time or temporary employment
that will fit in with their studies.
The choice of the
indicator has
a noticeable effect
on the resulting table.
The younger the age
group considered, and
the higher the average
number of years young
people spend in the
education system
in a specific country,
the greater is the
difference between
the two indicators.
Table E1.4 shows that differences in statistical approach have significant
implications as far as very young people are concerned. At ages from 15 to 19, the
unemployment rate concerns only those who have left the education system early,
hence the least skilled. Recorded at a time when the most disadvantaged young
people are seeking to enter a labour market that is particularly inaccessible to
them, unemployment rates are steep, averaging over 20 per cent and in some
cases as much as 30 or 40 per cent. But the picture is particularly deceptive if
confined to the youngest school-leavers, rather than the age group as a whole. If all
15 to 19 year-olds are considered, youth unemployment amounts to only a few
percentage points, 3.5 per cent on average, meaning that the problem is on quite
a different scale.
During the most common period for entering the labour market, i.e. after
the age of 20, unemployment rates for young workers and for the youth population
as a whole are still at very different levels. Unemployment rates for those
aged 20-24 differ very widely from country to country. At the low end of the
scale, they range from 5 to less than 10 per cent (the Czech Republic, Korea,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and the United States) but are as high
as around 30 per cent or more in Finland, Greece, Italy and Spain. In these
latter countries, the labour market is particularly hard for young people to
enter. Given the high average age of young people when they complete their
initial education, those in the labour market at the age of 20 to 24 have either
left school very early and belong to the least skilled, or spent little time in the
labour market so far. This relative disadvantage is particularly strong in countries
such as Finland, where the average school-leaving age is even higher than
the OECD average and where almost half of the age group are still in education
(see Tables E4.1 and E2.1, discussed in later sections).
Taking the unemployed – who are no longer in education – as a proportion
of the age group as a whole, the picture appears to be far less serious, and the
differences between countries become less clear. Because of its high proportion
of students, Finland returns to a moderate rate, even below the OECD
average, so that on the whole the employment situation of the 20 to 24-year
olds does not seem to be particularly worrying. Otherwise, there is little change
in country rankings, although the gaps have narrowed. In most countries, youth
unemployment stands no higher than between 5 and 9 per cent of the age
group (i.e., the unemployment to population ratio). The highest national figures
stand at around 16 per cent. Chart E1.5 shows that one group of countries
consistently appears to be present young entrants to the labour market with
particular difficulties, whatever the indicator used and the age group considered.
This group includes France, Greece, Italy and Spain.
Another effect revealed by the use of the new indicator relates to gender.
Among 15-29 year-olds, in 12 out of 19 countries, more women are unemployed
than men. In many cases, the difference is substantial, particularly when
unemployment is generally very high. Yet this is not true of the proportion of
unemployed women within the total age group. This indicator demonstrates
that unemployed young women account for a higher proportion of the total age
group than unemployed young men in only half of the 18 countries reporting
© OECD 2000
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