Young People in Education and Employment: The Data Trail

This study focuses upon the education, training and employment of 15 to 24 year olds in Australia. Throughout the last three decades of the twentieth century the employment situation in Australia has altered significantly, compared with the labour force that existed in the decades preceding the Second World War. One group of Australians to experience a notable change in their employment prospects is its youth, that is, those in the 15 to 24 year old age bracket. This research illustrates that while it is possible to gain a sense of the general trends in the level of involvement of young people in the education, training and employment sectors, it is difficult to acquire a clear picture. This is because there exist incongruencies and anomalies in the recording and reporting of data between the various databases, creating an ambiguous depiction of participation rates.