The graph gives information about a survey on what 1,000 students did after leaving school from 2008 to 2012.
Obviously, the most noticeable change involves students who looked for work and took a break.
At the beginning of the 5-year period, half of the students decided to go straight to college. The remaining were divided into 2 groups: 300 looked for work and 200 had a gap year. At the end of the period, the difference of three figures became less marked. In the first three years, the former dropped, but the latter rose. In the rest of the time, they were followed by the opposite trends which the former increased and the latter decreased. The last figure climbed up over time. In the last year, the former’s figure was less than it was in the first year and it was the opposite for students who took a break. Meanwhile, the figure for students who found a job stayed the same.
A more detailed look at the graph shows that the number of students who entered higher education and students who searched for a job fluctuated. Between 2008 and 2010, the former rose from 300 to 400, while the latter experienced a gradual fall from 500 to approximately 300. The remaining figure increased from 200 to nearly 300. By the end of the period, the number of students who sought for employment fell back to 300. However, the number of students who entered university rose to 390 after stagnating in 2011. Finally, the figure for students who took a gap year slightly increased to 310