More youngsters are leaving school without any sort of qualification, national statistics agency CBS said on Wednesday.

Three years ago, 17% of youngsters did not have a school leaving diploma, and this has now risen to 20%, or one in five, the CBS said.

In total, 176,000 youngsters aged 15 to 27 who have left school do not have any papers, 50,000 up on the same period in 2021.

The impact of not having passed school leaving exams is also highlighted in employment rates. Some 90% of those who left school with a diploma and are no longer studying are working, compared with 70% of those without.