https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4001-5472
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ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to analyse the school-to-work transition of young people in France, focusing specifically on those who are not in employment, education or training (so-called NEETs), in order to understand their risk of becoming and remaining NEET. Using longitudinal data from a representative national cohort of French young people leaving the educational system in 2010, this study shows how NEET status fits in more or less long-lasting ways in their career pathways. We indicate that 70% of young people experienced a NEET status at least once over the three-year period, if we retain a static and conventional definition of NEET. For most of them, NEET is a temporary situation that spans all educational attainment groups. However, a quarter of the cohort is still in a NEET status 3 years after leaving the education system. The lack of educational and social capital, as well as geographical economic conditions, are decisive factors in remaining in long-term NEET trajectories.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Most of the vocational secondary education is based on a school training scheme although an apprenticeship system exists based on a dual education between a school and an enterprise. Only 5% of pupil choose this dual track at the end of the college, 28% the school vocational track and 61% the general of technological track (Pesonel & Zamora, Citation2017). This enrolment rate in the dual track decreased these last years in secondary education whereas it increased in higher education.
2. At the end of the college, pupils opt for vocational tracks to prepare during two years a CAP the Certificat d’aptitude professionnelle (Vocational training certificate listed as ISCED 3 in the international classification), the first level of vocational training.
3. Young people without any diploma (ISCED 0–2).
4. Baccalauréat (ISCED 3) is the standard final diploma of upper secondary education as far as the gateway to higher institutions is concerned.
5. NEET become a target category of employment policy for the first time in France via the Youth Guarantee from October 2013 supported by the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) and the European Social Fund (ESF) the key EU financial resources.
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Notes on contributors
Jean-François Giret
Jean-François Giret is a Full Professor of Education at the University of Burgundy, as well as the Director of the Institute for Research in the Sociology and Economics of Education (IREDU) and the Director of the regional associated centre of the French Centre for Research in Education, Training and Employment (Céreq) for the Burgundy region. He obtained his PhD in Economics from the University Capitole-Toulouse 1 with a thesis titled ‘An economic analysis of school to work transition’ (1998). At the beginning of his career, he was a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and then a senior researcher at Céreq. His research interests include the transition from school to work, skill mismatch, and youth employability. He has published many scientific articles and several books in the fields of Economics and Education. His most recent international publications appeared in Gender and Education, Applied Economics, Applied Economics Letter, European Journal of Education, Journal Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Journal of Vocational Behavior, European Journal of Higher Education, International Journal of Educational Research, and International Journal of Manpower. He acts as an expert for several national and international institutions, such as the World Bank, PNUD, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and CEDEFOP.
Christine Guégnard
Christine Guégnard is a Senior Researcher in Educational Sciences at the Institute for Research in the Sociology and Economics of Education (IREDU) and the regional associated centre of the French Centre for Research in Education, Training and Employment (Céreq) at the University of Burgundy in France. Her research activities highlight the training and employment relationship, and more particularly youth transitions into the labour market (looking at the experience of apprentices as well as VET and higher education graduates). Her research interests include the assessment of educational and employment policies in terms of gender, social, and ethnic inequalities from a comparative perspective. For example, she studies access to higher education and careers in hospitality using both quantitative and qualitative methods. She has been involved in various European comparative research projects, such as EduLife, Low-Wage Workers, Reflex, Meda, and Leonardo da Vinci, and has published on these topics. She has published relevant articles in the Comparative Education Review, Rassegna italiana di Sociologia, International Journal of Manpower, and European Journal of Higher Education, as well as by the Cedefop Panorama and Russell Sage Foundation.
Olivier Joseph
Olivier Joseph holds a master’s degree from the University of Paris Panthéon Sorbonne. He then joined the French Centre for Research in Education, Training and Employment (Céreq) as a researcher. He works in the Céreq DEEVA department, which studies the school-to-work transitions of new entrants in the labour market, and how this depends on the level at which they left the educational system. His research topics include discrimination in the labour market, youth unemployment, public service employment, and internships. He is particularly interested in young people who participated in secondary vocational education and apprenticeships in France. He has published relevant articles in: Formation Emploi, Revue Economique, Labour Economics, Brussels Economics Review.