Educational and employment patterns in the years following primary and secondary school

This report examines the educational and employment patterns of ethnic minority young people who have lived in Denmark for all or some of their childhood. The choices that young people make with regard to education and employment in the years immediately after primary and lower secondary school may influence their labour market association and opportunities for self-sufficiency many years into the future. The primary focus of this report is therefore the correlation between participation in upper secondary education and subsequent employment status. Generally, the study shows that immigrants and descendants of immigrants who grew up in Denmark, still have a way to go compared with ethnic Danes in relation to education and employment. The study also shows the importance of immigrants and descendants of immigrants completing upper secondary level education. 50% of immigrants who arrived in Denmark at the age of 6-15 years old and who did not complete an upper secondary level education, are neither in employment nor undergoing education 16 years after finishing primary and lower secondary school. For ethnic Danes this figure is 35%. The report was prepared by senior researcher Vibeke Jakobsen, and commissioned and financed by the Ministry of Employment.