Participation in further education in England and Wales: an analysis of post-war trends

Abstract

The paper examines the time-series evidence relating to participation rates in further education in England and Wales, and uses cointegration analysis to identify a long-run statistical relationship in the data consistent with an augmented human-capital model. The recent rapid growth of participation is attributable largely to the improvements in GCSE attainment of the last decade, coupled with the expansion of higher education. Fluctuations in labour demand play a significant role in determining movements in participation rates over time, and the substantial rise in youth unemployment of the early notes was a contributed to the rapid growth of participation at this time.