Insee Focus · January 2022 · n° 258

In 2020, the Covid-19 outbreak made it more difficult to find a job after leaving school

Over the year 2020, 68.3% of young people who finished their studies 1 to 4 years ago were in employment. It is 1.0 point lower than in 2019, whereas the annual employment rate remained almost stable for people who had been out of education for longer.

The decrease in the employment rate of leavers from initial education was particularly sharp in the second quarter of 2020, due to the first lockdown. More often on fixed-term contracts, young school leavers were therefore more affected than their elders. The employment decrease concerns all graduates, but differently according to fields of education.