"Race", education and work - David Drew

How well do ethnic minority young people achieve within the education system from age 16?19? Do they use the education system differently from white young people? How successful are they in obtaining jobs? Are their job chances improved by qualifications in the same way as for white young people? In exploring these questions David Drew makes a vital contribution to the debate on ethnicity, educational attainment and racial discrimination in the youth labour market. This book is based on a study of 28,000 ethnic minority and white young people taken from the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales, a nationally representative survey conducted by the Employment Department and the Department for Education. It focuses in detail on the transitions from school into post-compulsory education, youth training, unemployment and jobs. 'Race', social class and gender differences are systematically explored and statistically modelled. The survey provides a fascinating picture of the choices facing young people and the ways in which they try to maximise their job opportunities by improving on their qualifications. It uses large scale survey data analysis to study these issues in new ways, arguing that an analysis of ethnicity alone is not enough and that a three-dimensional treatment of 'race', class and gender is vital. It also provides new evidence of the persistence of racism in the labour market.