The transition from school to working life: a longitudinal approach

Abstract

The aim of this study is the analysis of the choice behaviour of the students after the compulsory education. In particular, the attention is focused on two aspects: identifying the main determinants of the intention and of the choice of leaving the school just over the two years following the end of the compulsory school and testing the existence of a time dependence in the choices. The empirical analysis is performed by discrete choice models and time-sequence logit models; the estimation of such models shows that the decision of leaving the school depends above all on a not regular past schooling history (one or more failures) and on a low family educational level. The time-sequence logit model has a better fit to the data, confirming the opportunity of a dynamic approach in the school-leaving analysis.