Early School Leaving Reasons and Consequences.docVIP

Theoretical and Applied Economics Volume XVIII (2011), No. 11(564), pp. 43-52 Early School Leaving: Reasons and Consequences Erika GY?N?S “Transilvania” University, Bra?ov gy_eruska@yahoo.de Abstract. Early school leaving represents a loss of potential that has effects on both social and economic scale (reduced social cohesion, lower financial incomes, increase of social allocations). Early school leaving has various reasons that can be either social or economic. Due to the average statistics of the 27 countries of the European Union, in 2008 78,5% of the populations of these countries went to school regularly, whereas the same statistics applied for Romania showed an extent of 78,3%. The statistics of early school leaving showed some 14, 9% in the countries of the EU, whereas in Romania this index was higher (15, 9%). Sequel to some analyses we can state that there is a strong relationship between the variables named participation in education and early school leaving; more than that, there is a strong relationship between the extent of school studies completion and the rate of unemployment. Keywords: degree of participation in education; early school leaving; Pearson’s correlation coefficient. JEL Codes: C19, E24, I21. REL Codes: 4C, 4D.  44 Erika Gy?n?s Introduction Early school leaving represents both an individual and a social problem. There are several reasons for which young people drop out of school very early: difficulties related learning, social problems or lack of motivation, counselling and orientation. Low level education has disastrous consequences not only for the youth; it implies the inefficient use of costs. Besides, considering the aging population of European countries and the current demographic changes, these countries cannot afford themselves the loss of young talents. While the term “early school leaving” includes all forms of leaving education