Half of young people aged 18-19 envisage their professional future with optimism

They all have in common the fact that they started secondary education in September 2007. Now, eight years later, with most of them aged 18-19, 45% of these young people are starting their studies in higher education, 30% remain in secondary education and 25% have left school, either definitively or provisionally. The level of educational attainment when they entered secondary school is a determining factor for the situation at 18-19 years old.

For those who have already left school with few qualifications, access to jobs and their working conditions are difficult: only 37% have a job, and this is often only temporary (fixed-term contract, temporary employment). Most of these young people still live with their parents, even when they have a job (78%).

At this age, students are the category most likely to live in their own accommodation during the week to be closer to their place of study (44%). However, separation from living with their parents may be only partial and is very often down to financial aid from families. A little over one in ten students aged 18-19 has a job. In half of these cases, this job is related to their studies.

As yet they are not thinking about autonomy, and these young 18-19-year-olds do not often mention problems related to finding accommodation, travelling or paying for everyday expenses. A small majority (53%) say they are fairly optimistic about their professional future and one in five (21%) are rather worried, the rest do not give an opinion.