Background to the Research

• On the basis of findings from research conducted in England and Wales into the profile of young people who are not in education, training or employment (henceforth Status 'O'), the T&EA commissioned a research study into the nature and extent of Status O in NI.
• The study was conducted by a team which consisted of researchers from the NI Economic Research Centre and the University of Ulster. The team reported to a Steering Group which consisted of researchers who conducted the original research on Status O in Wales, along with representatives from the T&EA, the Department of Education for NI, the Department of Economic Development and the NI Council for Voluntary Action.
• This paper provides an overview of the background reviews the findings of a major research project into the nature and extent of Status O in NI.
  

Research Approach

• The methodology used in the project consisted of three main strands:
  • Firstly, a detailed examination was conducted of a number of existing data sources which contain information on young people in the labour market. These were used to provide 'snapshot' estimates of the number of young people in Status O in NI at a particular point in time.
  • Secondly, a new survey of young people in the labour market was conducted as part of the project (the 'Status O Survey'). This included face-to-face interviews with a stratified random sample of around 1,000 young people throughout NI who became eligible to leave school for the first time in 1993. The sample included young people who were in Status O as well as those who were in education, training and employment.
  • Thirdly, in-depth 'qualitative' interviews were conducted with a small number of young people and professionals who had some experience of Status O. These were used to build up a picture of what it was actually like to be in Status O.
    

Main Findings

• Official data sources suggest that at any one time there are between 1,000 and 1,400 16 year olds in Status O in NI; this represents between 4 and 6 per cent of all 16 year olds.
• The proportion of young people in Status O varies considerably between the different geographical areas of NI. For example, in the urban areas of Belfast and Derry, along with a number of the more rural areas in the west of the Province, the proportion of young people in Status O is high at between 8 and 10 per cent.
• Approximately two-fifths of those young people who had some experience of Status O had experienced only a short spell of three months or less.
• The proportion of young women who had experienced a long spell of Status O during the 1993-95 period was slightly higher for young men (10 per cent as opposed to 8 per cent).
• Young people who have experienced Status O, particularly long-term Status O, tended to come from households in which other members have had experience of unemployment or economic inactivity.

Summary and Conclusions

• Although these 'snapshot' estimates are interesting and useful, they only provide part of a complete quantitative evaluation of the extent of the Status O problem. In particular, they are unable to account for 'dynamic' features of the problem such as the number of young people who flow into and out of Status O on a regular basis, as well as how long Status O spells last for.
• The results suggest that the problem in NI does not seem to be one of large numbers of young people aged 16 and 17 dipping in and out of Status O on a regular basis. Rather, the problem seems to be more that young people find it harder to get out of Status O after they have entered it and so they experience spells of long duration.
• In particular, the figures show that there is a significant minority of young people (8 per cent) who have experienced long spells of Status O between the ages of 16 and 18. It is this group which represents the most serious problem from a policy point of view.