More than 300 16-year-olds “disappear” every year from school and employment records, falling into idleness or the black economy, according to a recent report.

The vanishing fifth formers do not enter training or legal employment after finishing mandatory schooling. They do not apply for social benefits or register as unemployed, leaving an unexplained black hole in the labour market that has education authorities scratching their heads in search of the ‘missing’ youths.

Asked about this phenomenon, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told Times of Malta he believed the teenagers were either living idle lives as dependants on their parents or were forming part of the black economy.

“It is very difficult to keep tabs on these students once they leave school and do not continue their studies. It is like they disappear. Many of them would not have even sat for their O levels.

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