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Neither Employment nor Education

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This chapter examines outcomes for students from the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 post-primary (upper secondary) academic years in the period 2012 – 2017, that where neither identified in substantial employment or further or higher education. The following analysis will look at trends for this cohort in the context of Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection (DEASP) payments and unsubstantial employment. These categories are discussed non-exclusively, so persons may appear in more than one category in any given outcome year. The analysis focuses on the rates of those only found in these sources after five years for the 2012/2013 academic year, for LCE Completers, Early Leavers, and subsequently broken down by sex (although tables are available for the 2011/2012 cohort too).

Over one-third of LCE Completers in 'neither education nor employment' found in DEASP records five years after post-primary education

Looking at the 2012/2013 cohort, of the 3,010 LCE Completers in ‘Neither education nor employment’ in year five, 37.0% were identified in DEASP records. The rate for the 610 Early Leavers is 37.8%.

Early Leavers FemaleEarly Leavers Male LCE Completers Female LCE Completers Male
201321.052631578947410.740740740740713.45720720720727.27587700303162
201429.249011857707514.234875444839923.508459483526311.9852941176471
201532.246376811594214.417177914110432.352941176470619.5297191378184
201640.390879478827421.929824561403539.092055485498126.5725288831836
201748.286604361370725.964912280701845.661811272957627.4441340782123

Among the 1,580 female LCE Completers in ‘Neither employment nor education’ five years after post-primary, 45.7% were recorded as being in receipt of DEASP payments. While 1,430 male LCE Completers were similarly in ‘Neither education nor employment’, 27.4% of these were identified in DEASP records.

For Early Leavers, of the 320 females and 290 males in ‘Neither employment nor education’, 48.3% and 26.0% were found to be in receipt of DEASP payments.

Statbank tables: PPO21 - In neither education nor employment

Unsubstantial employment

Employment of less than 12 weeks in a calendar year is considered unsubstantial employment for the purposes of this report. For the 2012/2013 academic year, this category accounted for 38.0% of LCE Completers not active in education or substantial employment in outcome year five (2017), and for 21.0% of Early Leavers.

Early Leavers FemaleEarly Leavers Male LCE Completers Female LCE Completers Male
201337.28070175438638.518518518518546.790540540540546.0805543525336
201422.134387351778721.708185053380836.42030276046335.5147058823529
201511.594202898550719.938650306748534.336525307797540.4310907903331
201613.355048859934924.561403508771934.993694829760438.9602053915276
201713.084112149532729.824561403508834.452184927169141.8994413407821

Within the category ‘Neither employment nor education' for female LCE Completers, 29.8% were found to be in unsubstantial employment, compared to 41.9% for male LCE Completers. Female Early Leavers engaged in unsubstantial employment accounted for 13.1% of the category ‘Neither employment nor education’, while male Early Leavers did so at a rate of 34.5%.

Statbank tables: PPO22 - In unsubstantial employment