ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the effects of the decline in the youth labour market over the decade 1977 to 1987, for young people who left school at the minimum age, in order to see whether class inequalities have been reduced. It looks at the relative chances of young people from different social classes with different qualifications entering a ‘reasonable job’ after leaving school. The chapter also examines the relative chances of young people from different social classes and with different qualifications of avoiding ‘long-term’ unemployment in the immediate post-school period. Class analysis is based upon the Registrar General’s social classes using the young people’s fathers’ current or most recent occupation. The chapter presents the data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys. The data which were used for the year 1977 are confined to four areas: Strathclyde, Lothian, Fife and Tayside. This is because data collected in the other regions in 1977 was confined to qualified school-leavers.
