The changing family background of the low-educated in the Netherlands: Socio-economic, cultural, and socio-demographic resources

This article addresses two questions: (a) to what extent have the effects of family background on leaving school without qualifications changed over time in the Netherlands, and (b) to what extent have the background family characteristics of the unqualified changed. We estimate discrete-time event-history models, using data from the Family Surveys Dutch Population 1992, 1998, and 2000. The results show that the effects of parental socio-economic resources and parental educational attainment on leaving school unqualified have decreased over birth cohorts, whereas the effects of parental cultural and socio-demographic resources have been stable. These developments have been accompanied by decreases in the proportions of younger cohorts who leave school without qualifications. The combination of these two developments has caused the family background characteristics of the low-educated to deteriorate: they increasingly originate from families with unfavorable socio-economic, cultural and demographic resources. We argue that due to statistical discrimination and labeling this compositional change may have negative consequences for the economic and social well-being of low-educated persons in the Netherlands.