Student Experiences of the Leaving Certificate Applied Programme

LABOUR MARKET OUTCOMES 117Occupational sectors have been classified as follows:• Managerial/Professional;• Clerical;• Service;• Agriculture;• Skilled, Semi-skilled Manual;• Other Manual.Examining the occupational sector (based on the Census Classification ofOccupations, 1986) in which school leavers are employed, early school leaversare considerably more likely to be employed in manual jobs than morehighly educated school leavers (Figure 7.9). Overall, patterns ofemployment for the LCA completers are in line with the patterns for thelowest performing Leaving Certificate group. In total, 42 per cent of theLCA group are employed in the services sector, 40 per cent in manualemployment, 10 per cent in clerical jobs and less than 5 per cent in each ofthe managerial and agricultural sectors. As expected, patterns differstrongly for males and females, particularly for the LCA group. While lessthan 20 per cent of males completing the LCA subsequently enteremployment in the services sector, over two-thirds of their femalecounterparts do so. Conversely, while nearly 60 per cent of LCA malesenter skilled or semi-skilled manual employment, less than 10 per cent offemales completing this programme enter employment in this sector.Examining the patterns across all leaver groups it appears theemployment patterns for those completing the LCA programme fallsomewhere between the patterns for the Junior Certificate and lowestperforming LCE/LCVP groups (Figure 7.9). LCA leavers have relativelyhigh levels of entry into skilled and semi-skilled manual jobs (over onethird),levels comparable to the lowest performing LCE/LCVP group.Figure 7.9: Occupational Sector of School Leavers in Employment One YearAfter Leaving School (2001-2005 Leavers)100%80%60%40%Other ManualSkilled semi-skilled manualAgricultureServiceClericalManagerial/professional20%0%Low Medium-Low Medium-High HighNo Quals Junior Cert LCA LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVP LCE/LCVPSource: School Leavers' Surveys 2002-2007.