The life course of the low educated in the Netherlands since the 1950s

This project focuses on the life course of low educated people in the Netherlands. During the last decades the number of low educated persons has declined seriously, whereas educational attainment has become more important for life chances in many aspects. This project will investigate the multiple relationships between having a low level of education and disadvantages in the occupational, relational, and social life course. The leading hypothesis is that low educated people are increasingly in a precarious position, because a) their relative position on the labor market deteriorates when more people have diplomas, and b) the low educated have become more and more a group of less talented people. The research goal of the project, to get insight in the life course of the low educated in the Netherlands since the 1950s, is elaborated in four research questions: a. What are the causes of leaving school with a low level of education? b. What are the life course consequences of having a low level of education? c. Why do some low educated experience more disadvantages than others? d. Do the causes and consequences of having a low education vary between men and women?