The long-term consequences of early school absences for educational attainment and labour market outcomes

Absences from school can have negative effects on a child's education, including the loss of teacher-led lessons, peer interactions, and, ultimately, academic achievement. However, little is known about the long-term consequences of school absences for overall educational attainment and labour market outcomes. In this paper, we used data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to examine the long-term effects of school absences in late childhood on individuals’ educational attainment, social class, unemployment, and earnings at age 42 while adjusting for a comprehensive set of confounders. Our findings show that school absences are associated with lower educational attainment, but do not affect social class destination except for increasing the likelihood of being out of the labour force after adjusting for confounders. Individuals who missed five days of school at age 10 were 5.7% more likely to have obtained no qualifications and 4.2% more likely to be out of the labour force. However, we did not find a significant impact of school absences on individuals’ earnings or when looking specifically at their time in unemployment over the last 10 years. Our findings suggest that the negative effects of school absences persist beyond schooling into adulthood. Overall, this study highlights the importance of addressing school absenteeism to promote educational and labour market participation over the life course.