Work and the Enterprise Culture by Malcolm Cross Geoff Payne

Author:Malcolm Cross, Geoff Payne [Malcolm Cross, Geoff Payne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780815348252
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2020-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

Those who embarked with good qualifications were more likely to have escaped from early unemployment than the unqualified and poorly-qualified. And when the former did escape they tended to obtain the better jobs. Individuals who made successful traditional transitions into jobs at age 16 had generally remained in employment irrespective of their prior educational attainments, but these were strongly related to their types of employment. In Spring 1988, 87 per cent from the best-qualified quartile who made successful traditional transitions and were in any employment, held non-manual jobs, while 75 per cent of the least qualified’s jobs were manual occupations. However, the overall success of the group who made successful traditional transitions in terms of avoiding unemployment and the quality of their employment was in no way due to their being particularly well-qualified. Indeed, at age 16, on average, they were far less-qualified than respondents who stayed on in education, and slightly less-qualified than YTS entrants.

Poor qualifications had remained a handicap whichever routes individuals took at age 16. Poorly-qualified respondents who obtained jobs at age 16 were the most successful in avoiding future unemployment, but only at the expense of entering jobs of generally inferior quality to those obtained by young people with equally poor qualifications at age 16 who proceeded through the YTS or into post-compulsory education. According to our evidence, which steps forward they took at age 16 had made the greatest difference over the next three years to the labour market prospects of the least-qualified

Well-qualified 16 year olds had good employment prospects whether they sought jobs immediately, proceeded through the YTS, or through post-compulsory education. In general, qualifications held at age 16 were very good predictors of the sample’s prospects. If the well-qualified quit education at age 16 and experienced early spells of unemployment, their educational attainments increased their likelihood of escaping from the predicament. By age 18–19, the employment rates of well-qualified respondents who had been through the YTS or post-compulsory education equalled those of the group who made successful traditional transitions. But the latter had not been overtaken either in their employment rate, or their quality of employment.

This is a highly significant finding. Some of the unskilled jobs occupied by our 18–19 year olds who left full-time education after one or two post-compulsory years will no doubt prove temporary stations. In time the occupational attainments of these groups may pull well ahead of the young adults who obtained jobs at age 16. However, a plain fact of the shorter-term situation was that many young people who opted for the YTS and post-compulsory education derived no immediate returns on their sacrifices and investments, if they could have obtained regular jobs at age 16. So when 16 year olds have the option of immediate employment, embarking on further education or youth training will be risky strategies, especially for the better-qualified. Additional passes in examinations that are normally taken at age 16 can be devalued by the extra time spent earning them (Roberts et. al., 1987). So-called vocational qualifications often carry little weight when employers recruit from external labour markets.

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