All Posts Tagged With: "OECD"
Education is “good employment insurance”
But it was a bad summer for student job hunters
Photo courtesy of EthanLong on Flickr
Unemployment among university graduates in rich countries, including Canada, remained a low 4.4 per cent in 2009, the year of the global recession, according to a new study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That same year, unemployment for those without higher education shot up from 8.7 per cent to 11.5 per cent. The OECD’s conclusion? Education is “a good employment insurance.”
But the organization is worried about falling public investment in education. Between 2000 and 2008, the share of private funding for post-secondary schools rose in 20 of the 26 countries studied. “Despite strained public budgets, governments must keep up their investment to maintain quality in education, especially for those most at risk,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.
Canada’s dropout rate improves
But 10th percentile scores decline
Canada’s high school dropout rate has significantly declined over the past 20 years. The National Post summarized the results of three recent reports, including one from Statistics Canada that reported a declining high school dropout rate. For young adults aged 20-24, the rate was 8.5 per cent in 2009/2010, down about half from 20 years ago.
The Canadian high school dropout rate for adults aged 25-34 is 8 per cent, which compares favourably to an OECD average dropout rate of 20 per cent.
The third report, from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), measured the strength of school programs internationally. Despite doing well for average scores, Canadian schools didn’t do so well when it came to the 10th-percentile scores, which declined in many provinces over the past ten years. The Post pointed out that the highest provincial dropout rate, in Quebec, is twice as high as the lowest, in B.C.
Lastly, the dropout rate declined for First Nations aged 45-plus and those aged 35-44 among. The rate did not decline for those under the age of 35, which means a third of First Nation adults between the ages of 25-44 have no high school certification.
20% of older teenagers no longer in school
Canada stands out among OECD countries with young people not continuing education
A newly released study has found that one in five older Canadian teenagers were no longer pursuing a formal education in 2008. The 20 per cent rate among teenagers aged 15 to 19 in Canada was higher than the average of 15 per cent across the 31 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Statistics Canada reports the OECD proportion was down from 20 per cent in 1998, but it remained stable at 20 per cent in Canada. The agency says the proportion of teenagers aged 15 to 19 no longer in school varied from 14 per cent in New Brunswick to 26 in Alberta. The corresponding estimates for the territories ranged from 25 per cent to 34 per cent. StatsCan says employment and earnings prospects increase strongly with educational attainment.
In 2008, the employment rate for Canadians aged 25 to 64 who had not completed high school was 58 per cent, whereas the figure for college and university graduates was 83. Graduates from university programs earned considerably more — 75 per cent more on average — than high school or trade and vocational program graduates. According to the most recent data available, the college graduation rate in Canada, which includes only first-time graduates, was 26 per cent, well above the OECD average rate of 10 per cent.
The Canadian Press
