Indicator 8: Educational Attainment of the Youth Labour Force

Definition and rationale

Educational attainment reflects the levels and distribution of the knowledge and skills base of the youth labour force.

Statistics on levels and trends in educational attainment of the labour force can: (a) provide an indication of the capacity of countries to achieve important social and economic goals; (b) give insights into the broad skill structure of the labour force; (c) highlight the need to promote investments in education for different population groups; (d) support analysis of the influence of skill levels on economic outcomes and the success of different policies in raising the educational level of the workforce; (e) give an indication of the degree of inequality in the distribution of education resources between groups of the population, particularly between men and women, and within and between countries; and (f) provide an indication of the skills of the existing labour force, with a view to discovering untapped potential.

Numerator and denominator and method of computation

The seven categories of educational attainment are conceptually based on the ten levels of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED). Currently the classification of education levels is on nine levels and ten subcategories.

The major attainment levels are primary, secondary and tertiary education. Primary education aims to provide the basic elements of education (for example, at elementary or primary school and lower secondary school) and corresponds to ISCED levels 1 and 2. Curricula are designed to give students a sound basic education in reading, writing and arithmetic, along with an elementary understanding of other subjects. Some vocational programmes, often associated with relatively unskilled jobs, as well as apprenticeship programmes that require further education, are also included.

Secondary education is provided at high schools, teacher-training schools at this level, and schools of a vocational or technical nature. General education continues to be an important constituent of the curricula, but separate subject presentation and more specialization are also found. Secondary education consists of ISCED levels 3 (designated “upper secondary education”) and 4 (designated “post-secondary non-tertiary education”).

Tertiary education is provided at universities, teacher-training colleges, higher professional schools and sometimes distance learning institutions. It requires, as a minimum condition of admission, the successful completion of education at the secondary level or evidence of the attainment of an equivalent level of knowledge. It corresponds to ISCED levels 5 6 and 7 (levels 5A, 5B and 6 in ISCED-97 and levels 5, 6 and 7 in ISCED-76).

In addition to primary, secondary and tertiary education, three other categories of educational attainment that correspond to ISCED levels include: less than one year of schooling (level X); less than primary (level 0); and education not defined by level (ISCED- 76 level 9).

All categories are presented as a share of the total youth labour force.

The labour force is defined as the sum of persons employed and persons unemployed (see Indicators 1 and 3 for detailed information on definitions).

Sources and data collection

Information on educational attainment is typically collected through household surveys, official estimates and population censuses conducted by national statistical services.

Relevant ICLS resolutions and guidelines / other international classifications

Resolution concerning statistics of the economically active population, employment, unemployment and underemployment, adopted by the 13th ICLS (October 1982);

International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).

Comments and limitations

A number of factors can limit the appropriateness of using the indicator for comparisons of statistics on education between countries or over time. First, it should be noted that the same limitations relating to comparability of other indicators based on labour force apply here as well.

In addition to the differences associated with varying information sources, how individuals in the labour force are assigned to educational levels can also severely limit the feasibility of cross-country comparisons. Many countries have difficulty establishing links between their national classification and ISCED, especially with respect to technical or professional training programmes, short-term programmes and adult-oriented programmes. In numerous situations, ISCED classifications are not strictly adhered to, therefore the actual distribution of education levels must be understood before making comparisons.