A study on the relationship between early school leaving and socioeconomic outcomes

Abstract

The issue of Early School Leaving is still a big issue affecting individuals personally, as well as the society they live in, and to this day, it remains on the agenda of policymakers. In the light of this, the aim of this research is to understand the socioeconomic outcomes of Early School Leavers and the relationship between the two. To understand this relationship, the study analysed secondary data of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and compared several variables. Given the data available, both panel data and cross-sectional regression were possible. Through such regression analysis, it resulted that the relationship between education and socioeconomic factors in Malta is inversely proportional with higher education attainment leading to higher income and employment opportunities. However, Early School Leaving can have negative outcomes on health and life satisfaction. Early School Leaving also affects the economy negatively by widening the skills gap and leading to wasted resources. The gender pay gap persists, and those with more work experience have a slightly better chance of employment. On the other hand, Early School Leaving can lead to social exclusion and mental health issues. Therefore, such findings suggest that pursuing education can lead to better outcomes and higher satisfaction whilst leaving education at an early age can lead to a number of undesirable outcomes in terms of income, health, employment, and satisfaction, amongst many others. Overall, this shows that the study's findings are consistent with those of other studies, with a few slight variations that might be caused by several different variables.