European Social Fund Objective 3: Leavers Survey 1999

The Department for Education and Employment (DfEE) commissioned the Institute for Employment Studies and NOP to undertake the 1999 leavers' survey for the European Social Fund (ESF) Objective 3 programme. The survey took place during 2000 and was based on a nationally representative sample of over 2,800 beneficiaries.

The study aimed to assess the experiences of beneficiaries who had taken part in Objective 3 projects to explore their labour market difficulties, identify their activities on the projects, and ultimately to look at their outcomes from the projects. In essence, the research sought to learn whether ESF Objective 3 had made any difference to the labour market chances of those taking part.

This is the third and final quantitative leavers' survey for the Objective 3 programme, and covers England, Wales and Scotland. As with the previous two reports, the analysis is based not only on the participant group as a whole, but also on the many targeted sub-groups of 'disadvantaged' beneficiaries on Objective 3 projects.