AN EMPIRICAL-ANALYSIS OF THE UNEMPLOYMENT DURATION OF SCHOOL-LEAVERS

Unemployment is a waste of valuable human resources, which also imposes various economic, medical and psychological costs on the individual. These costs are likely to be greater the longer the duration of unemployment. This is true for both prime-aged workers and the youngest entrants to the labour market, that is, school-leavers. Using Careers Service data on 1979, 1980 and 1981 leavers, the authors seek to shed light on the issue of what factors determine the duration of unemployment for minimum-aged school-leavers. The way in which these factors can be used by the Careers Service to identify those school-leavers who have a higher risk of long-term unemployment is discussed and a number of strategies for helping this group are outlined. The results show that, after allowing for the distorting influence of the Youth Opportunities Programme, longer durations of unemployment are associated with an absence of work experience, low-to-intermediate qualifications and other personality traits.