Early leavers from education and training

Young adults whose highest level of education is at or below lower secondary school level are considered early leavers from education and training. Policy efforts have brought down their numbers to ratios that are very close to the EU target. Nevertheless all those who fall into this category suffer considerable disadvantage as they are more likely to be out of employment and less likely to engage in further education and training than others of their age group with a higher level of education. The EU supports Member States through policy coordination, and programmes such as the Youth Guarantee.