Wages and the education and employment choices of young people: empirical analysis for Great Britain

This paper examines the responsiveness of the education and employment choices of young people in Great Britain to the level of wages currently available to them in the labour market. Our results show that among young males in particular, the probability of continued participation in full-time education declines significantly as the expected wage increases. The effects for young women are smaller and not statistically significant in general. In addition, we find that the probability of being inactive – not in education, employment or training – increases also with the level of expected wage, particularly in the case of young males of lower academic ability. In the light of these findings, we assess the impact of the recent introduction of a national minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds on education and employment decisions of young men in Great Britain. <br><br> Keywords; education, employment, wages, young people