Unemployment and Early School Leaving

Market Returns, Transfers and Demand for Schooling in Malaysia, 1976-89

“…In most of these models, labour market earnings feature as a cost of education (foregone earnings), not as future returns to education. Four studies, however, empirically examined the impact of labour market earnings on education decisions -Freeman [1975]; Willis and Rosen [1979]; Altonji [1991]; Micklewright, Pearson, and Smith [1990].…”

“…Moreover, the ex ante probability for completing and obtaining a college degree was also higher for those who did choose to start college, thus ensuring larger ex post payoffs. Micklewright, Pearson and Smith [1990] examined the effects of unemployment on school leaving in the United Kingdom during the period 1978-84. The unemployment rate could affect schooling in three ways: reduce the gain from job search and the opportunity costs of additional education; reduce the return to education; and decrease family income.…”

Spatial structure counts: the relevance of regional labour-market conditions for educational transitions to vocational training

“…These expectancies are shaped by the individual perception of labour-market conditions (Carmeci and Chies 2002;Peraita and Pastor 2000;Betts and McFarland 1995). A central argument for a positive relation between unemployment and the enrolment in further education is that high unemployment tends to discourage young adults from quickly entering the labour market (discouraged worker effect; e.g., Micklewright et al 1990;Raffe and Willms 1989). In that sense, higher education is used as an 'escape' from unemployment.…”

“…However, empirical evidence that combines individual micro-data with macroinformation is less frequent and more ambiguous: Some studies fail to find any influence (Micklewright, Pearson, and Smith 1990), while others find a weak impact of local labour-market conditions on post-secondary participation (Tumino 2013;Meschi, Swaffield, and Vignoles 2011;Rice 1999). Some studies that find an impact also show that the effect of unemployment differs with respect to individual characteristics.…”

On the Regional Labour Market Determinants of Female University Enrolment in Europe

“…Rice (1998) finds that participation rates in further education for both males and females are positively related to the local unemployment rate in England and Wales. No significant impact of local labor market conditions on enrolment is detected by Micklewright et al (1990) and Meschi et al (2011) on UK data, while Casquel and Uriel (2009), focusing on Spain, show that higher unemployment rates diminish the probability of investing in post-compulsory education.…”