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Paper in Academic Journals
This paper was originaly published on muse.jhu.edu
This study analyzes the influence of local labor market characteristics on student dropout pathways in Morocco. Beyond individual determinants, early school leaving may depend on dropouts’ local environment. This study mobilized original empirical material that combines individual and spatial data from Morocco’s 75 provinces. First, we conducted a cartographic analysis of 10- to 14-year-old children who left the education system and were employed in the Moroccan space. Second, we analyzed the spatial impact of risks related to local labor market specificities on early school leaving. The results revealed a local labor market impact on the decision to drop out of school children who left school to enter the labor market early. Therefore, the spatial transmission cut-off of intergenerational school failure requires multidimensional action in areas with a high risk of dropping out. Our findings indicate a need for coherent and transversal public action (education/employment) and improved social and spatial targeting of social protection to improve local labor market functioning and secure educational and professional trajectories of pupils in compulsory education.
