The line graph shows what percentage of school leavers went into further study, employment or neither in one country between 2000 and 2020.
Overall, further study became increasingly popular while employment declined, so the two destinations swapped positions. The proportion doing neither remained small and fairly stable.
In 2000 employment was the most common destination, at 48%, ahead of further study at 38%. The two lines crossed between 2000 and 2004: by 2004 the proportion going on to study had risen to 44%, while employment had dropped to 41%. This trend continued, with study reaching 49% in 2008, 55% in 2012 and 60% in 2016. By 2020 almost two-thirds of school leavers, 63%, were continuing their education.
Employment fell consistently, from 48% in 2000 to 36% in 2008, 31% in 2012 and 27% in 2016. It reached its lowest level of 24% in 2020, exactly half of the original figure.
The group going into neither work nor study was small throughout. It rose from 14% in 2000 to 15% in 2004 and 2008, then fell back to 14% in 2012 and 13% in both 2016 and 2020.