School-to-work transition of young people
Published: 17 June 2007
In October 2006, the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC [1]) published a report (876Kb PDF) [2] on how young people in Malta deal with the transition from school to employment. The report is based on several sources, including a survey carried out among 497 young people who have undergone the school-to-work transition and have already a minimum of one years’ work experience. The survey did not include young persons choosing to go on to third-level education. The report examines the career opportunities available to young people after finishing their school education, analyses the main influences on their employment aspirations and choices, evaluates the training opportunities available for the jobs on offer, and identifies programmes which can facilitate the school-to-work transition.[1] http://www.etc.gov.mt[2] http://etc.gov.mt/docs/ETC_schooltoworktransition.pdf
The Employment and Training Corporation published a report on the school- to-work transition of young people in Malta. According to the findings, young people seem to manage this transition without difficulty. Work-related outcomes appear to be influenced by the sex of the individual, the type of school attended, the level of education and the father’s occupation.
About the study
In October 2006, the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) published a report (876Kb PDF) on how young people in Malta deal with the transition from school to employment. The report is based on several sources, including a survey carried out among 497 young people who have undergone the school-to-work transition and have already a minimum of one years’ work experience. The survey did not include young persons choosing to go on to third-level education. The report examines the career opportunities available to young people after finishing their school education, analyses the main influences on their employment aspirations and choices, evaluates the training opportunities available for the jobs on offer, and identifies programmes which can facilitate the school-to-work transition.
Type of employment
Young persons appear to cope well in making the transition from school to work. After leaving school, about half of the young people surveyed stayed in their first job. While the majority of the young survey participants work on open-ended employment contracts (59.7%), a substantial proportion of respondents (36%) are on fixed-term contracts. The most common type of employment position for these young workers is that of clerks (33% of the respondents), followed by plant and machine operators and assemblers (20.3%), and technician and associate professionals (16.3%). Almost half of the full-time employed young women have clerical jobs compared with about a fourth of all young men (Table 1). Considerably more women also work as plant and machine operators and assemblers than men. On the other hand, young men tend to be more represented in elementary occupations, craft and related trades and in roles such as technician and associate professionals.
| Type of employment | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| Technician and associate professionals | 13.3 | 19.8 |
| Clerks | 45.0 | 23.1 |
| Service workers and market sales workers | 10.0 | 12.4 |
| Craft and related trades workers | 1.7 | 10.7 |
| Plant and machine operators and assemblers | 26.7 | 14.9 |
| Elementary occupations | 3.3 | 19.0 |
| Total | 100 | 100 |
Source: ETC, 2006
Earnings
Most of the young respondents earn between MTL 201 (about €469 as at 24 May 2007) and MTL 300 (€700) a month. Men tend to earn higher wages than women; in fact, three times more male workers than female workers earn over MTL 400 (€934) a month. The survey findings also indicate that, among young people, income increases with age. Thus, when comparing the income of young people aged 16–24 years, 22–24 year olds earn the highest wages, while 16–18 year olds have the lowest earnings.
Attitudes of young people to work
Most respondents feel prepared for the world of work after their school education. It appears that young people who attended church-run and private schools feel significantly better prepared to take on a job than their peers from public schools. About three quarters of the young persons did not find it particularly difficult to get used to their work. The most common problem faced by young workers is the initial difference between the work and school environment. Several respondents also found it difficult to adapt to work responsibilities.
The most common reason given for wanting a different job is the rather generic wish to have better working conditions (32.6%) – Table 2. Next are respondents’ wish for a better salary (19.8%) and opportunities to pursue further studies (14%).
| Reason | % |
|---|---|
| Too much hard work | 11.6 |
| Would like to do further studies | 14.0 |
| Want a more interesting job | 5.8 |
| Want a better salary | 19.8 |
| Prefer better working conditions | 32.6 |
| Other reasons | 16.2 |
Source: ETC, 2006
Young people at risk of unemployment
Many young persons registering as job seekers were found to have few or no qualifications (Table 3). Indeed, 22.9% of these have no qualifications while 43.8% only have a secondary school-leaving certificate.
| Level of qualifications | % |
|---|---|
| No qualifications | 22.9 |
| Secondary school leaving certificate | 43.8 |
| University-level qualification | 8.3 |
| Non-university certificate | 14.6 |
Source: ETC, 2006
The report reveals that fewer persons coming from church-run and private schools are at risk of becoming unemployed than their counterparts from state-run schools. Furthermore, the largest groups of unemployed young people come from families where fathers work in elementary occupations (27%), technical and associate professions (27%) or service and market sales (24.3%). None of the unemployed young people have fathers who work as senior managers or professionals.
Manwel Debono, Centre for Labour Studies
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2007), School-to-work transition of young people, article.
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