Leavers from higher education: increased levels of education have not prevented a rise in unemployment

The young people who left higher education in 2010 and were surveyed as part of Céreq’s education-to-work transition surveys are not immune to the effects of the deteriorating economic situation. Although they are more highly qualified as a result of the introduction of the LMD (in French: licence, master, doctorat) degree structure, they are more likely to be unemployed and are slightly less well paid than their predecessors who left in 2004. Non-completers are still the group most at risk, but those with vocational degrees have also suffered the effects of the recession.