THE job situation for school leavers has improved substantially because of a sharp fall in unemployment - down from 20 per cent in 1994 to 14 per cent in 1995 - and emigration by those leaving school falling to a mere 1 per cent.
The proportion of school leavers finding jobs has also gone up from 34 per cent in 1994 to 40 per cent last year. However, the highest proportion - 42 per cent - go on to higher education. College is now the main destination of school leavers, according to the latest annual Economic Status of School Leavers report, published by the ESRI yesterday.
The report shows that the proportion of school leavers going to college has doubled since 1980. There is a steadily increasing trend towards staying on longer in the education system: 82 per cent of those leaving school in 1995 had a senior cycle certificate of one kind or another and only 3 per cent had no qualification. This compares with only 60 per cent having a senior certificate in 1980.
The rise in the numbers staying on to complete a senior cycle certificate is described by the report as "dramatic". Equally startling is the rapid decline in the proportion leaving school after the Junior Certificate, which has fallen from one third of all school leavers in 1980 to just 15 per cent among the 1995 contingent.
In a statement, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Bruton, expressed satisfaction at the 33 per cent reduction in those leaving school without qualifications between 1994 and 1995.
He was "particularly pleased to see the very significant increase in the success rate of school leavers, with 82 per cent either in jobs or in higher education".
Even among the 14 per cent without jobs, the picture is not all bleak. Almost a quarter of these are in training schemes such as those run by FAS or Youthreach. Unemployment rates are dramatically higher among those who leave school early or without qualifications.
The trend towards further education is even more pronounced than the survey indicates. While it shows 42 per cent going to college, this does not include the almost 20,000 Leaving Cert students going to PLC courses. Since these are based within second level schools their graduates are included in the "school leaver" category.
The report shows a very close correlation between educational attainment and employment and earnings. Thus the unemployment level for those leaving school with no qualifications in 1995 was 61 per cent, with the Junior Cert 36 per cent, with the Leaving Cert 21 per cent and with a PLC qualification just 17 per cent.
But the report is even more specific: it shows, for example, that while the unemployment rate was 21 per cent for those just passing the Leaving, it was only 16 per cent for those getting up to three C grades and 14 per cent for those achieving four C grades.
Rates of pay can also be directly related to qualifications, according to the report. Thus those who left school with no qualifications were earning £2.09 per hour, with Junior Cert £2.48, Leaving Cert £2.99 and those with a PLC qualification £3.78.
Considerably more girls than boys stay on at school to Leaving Cert level, the report shows. And there are far more boys than girls' among the ranks of early school leavers. However, girls who leave school early suffer a much higher level of unemployment than their male counterparts.
The proportion of girls going on to higher education is 45 per cent, with 39 per cent of boys doing likewise.
The ESRI report for 1995 recorded a substantially higher level of unemployment among school leavers whose fathers were unemployed, 32 per cent as against 14 per cent overall.