ABSTRACT
In this chapter we examine young people’s transition from school into the youth labour market and post-compulsory education. This transition towards adult status is a complex and often difficult one for many young people in contemporary British society. Evidence as to the importance of labour market position in the lives of older adolescents is presented elsewhere in the book: in Chapters 3 and 4, for example, we found that patterns of leisure involvement and sports participation were clearly related to labour market position; and it will be shown in Chapter 8, for example, that young people’s health and health behaviours are also linked to their present labour market position. In this chapter, however, we prefer to examine the transition itself in some detail, rather than focus on the impact that career trajectories and current socio-economic circumstances may have on young people’s lives.
