Background to the Research

• There is a group of young people aged 16 or 17 who are not in education, vocational training or employment and who are ineligible for benefits under the restructuring that took place in the social security system in the late 1980s.
• This marginalised group are under-researched as they are mostly likely to be excluded from the claimant count, and under-represented in surveys such as the LFS and the Youth Cohort Study.
  

Research Approach

• This article presents data from a research project commissioned by the T&EA and carried out in 1995 into unemployment and inactivity among teenagers in NI. The 'Status 0 Survey' explored the education and economic activities of a random sample of young people over a two year period from the summer of 1993 to the summer of 1995. The survey was conducted by the means of face-to-face interviews carried out by interviewers from an independent organisation unconnected with government in NI.
  

Main Findings

• Data from the T&EA, DENI, the Census and the LFS suggests that there are between 1,000 and 1,400 unemployed 16 year olds in NI at any one time. This is between 4 and 6 per cent of the total population of 16 year olds.

The 'Status 0 Survey'

• There appeared to be no large outflow from vocational training schemes during the first year following compulsory schooling. The data suggest that the educational and labour market activities of young people are reasonably stable in the first two years following compulsory education.
• Around 8% of each cohort of young people in NI experience long spells of unemployment between the ages of 16 and 18. This represents about 2,000 young people each year.
• Slightly more than three-quarters (78%) of the full cohort did not experience unemployment over the two-year period. Eighteen per cent (one-fifth) experienced one spell of unemployment and 4% two spells. Only 1% had experienced three or more spells.
• Forty-four per cent of those who had experienced at least one spell of unemployment had a duration of 3 months or less, and one-fifth a spell of 3-6 months. Thirty-six per cent of those who had some experience of unemployment had experienced a spell of 6 months or more (half a spell of 6-12 months and half a spell of more than 12 months).
• The data suggest that the problem for the young unemployed in NI is not that they move in and out of employment, rather that once unemployed they find it difficult to get out of unemployment.
• Slightly more than three-quarters of those who entered unemployment in October 1993 (immediately after school) experienced a long spell of unemployment during the next two years. This compared with a figure of between 5 and 7 per cent for those who entered some form of activity in October 1993.
• In relation to unemployment, there seem to be no significant differences between young people with 3-4 GCSE's and those who have 0-2 GCSEs. The main difference lies between those with 5 or more GCSEs and those with less than five.
• Young Catholics are less likely than their non-Catholic counterparts to enter unemployment immediately after leaving school - as they are more likely to participate in education and vocational training. Girls are more likely to perform well in examinations and therefore are less likely to be unemployed.
• Young people living with two parents are less likely to experience a long spell of unemployment than those living with one parent.
• Young people who attended Grammar school were significantly less likely to be in long-term unemployment. Independently, those who attended schools in the North East of NI were also less likely to be unemployed.