In the newest NEGOTIATE working paper Sara Ayllon of Department of Economics & EQUALITAS at University of Girona together with Natalia Nollenberger IE Business School – IE University investigate to what extent the high levels of unemployment caused by the Great Recession across Europe have translated into higher school enrollment among youth.

The study looks at the situation in 28 countries. It establishes a counter-cyclical relationship between raising unemployment and school attainment, and transition back to education. Among others, the results demonstrate a worrisome trend by which youth belonging to group of the most disadvantaged background (measured by low household income) became less likely to enroll into tertiary education.

The austerity measures and educational cutbacks imposed during the recession period, not only changed the pattern of educational decisions made by young Europeans, but also made the opportunity of skill acquisition more unequal and less accessible. The limited amount of scholarships available and increased costs of education, resulting from lowering the public expenditure on educational have a direct impact on take down the access and participation in education of the socio-economically vulnerable youths. Only those with a more wealthy economic background are more likely to return to education, that is a trend among high school drop outs, and high school graduates.

Read more https://negotiate-research.no/negotiate/files/2015/04/NEGOTIATE-working-paper-no-D5.1.pdf (pdf)