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The paper analyses the labour market situation among youth with low or medium levels of formal education. The analyses focus on studying the effects of level of competence, grades and immigrant background. Which factors contribute to labour market success among this group of youth? And which factors may increase the risk of not getting into the labour market? The findings indicate that both achieved characteristics, such as grades and level of competence ("merits"), and ascribed characteristics, such as ethnic background, are important for their labour market opportunities. Among those with the lowest competence level, the ethnic Norwegians do not fare the best. Else, immigrants with non-Western background have a higher risk of unemployment and a lower rate of employment than the ethnic Norwegians, but second-generation immigrants have a better situation than first-generation immigrants. (Contains 2 tables, 4 figures, and 7 notes.)

The article examines how social background characteristics affect the academic achievement and grade careers of Norwegian economics students. The analyses show that the parents' social class is of great importance for the offspring's grades. Students with parents who are academics perform better than their fellow students of working-class background, on each stage of their university career. The differences are smallest at the preparatory level, and biggest at the master's level. At the last stage of the educational career, students with economist parents outperform other students with similar class backgrounds. The effects of social background are not constant throughout the educational career of economists. Rather, they seem to increase. Appendix 1 contains standardized grades and descriptives of the independent variables in tabular form. (Contains 2 tables and 5 notes.)

From the start of the 2001-2002 academic year, people who had not completed secondary school were able to enter higher education based on documented non-formal learning, realkompetanse. Based on interviews with key personnel at selected universities and university colleges, and on quantitative data from the applicant register, this article presents results from an evaluation of this reform in Norwegian higher education. The evaluation indicates that the reform, by and large, works according to the lawmakers' intentions in providing a second chance for learners not usually linked with higher education. Still, findings suggest considerable variations in how the universities and university colleges have adjusted to the reform. Geographical location and supply of students are factors contributing to the institutions attitude to the reform. University colleges in rural areas with a low number of applicants, in general, react more positively to the reform and it seems to be easier for applicants to be assessed as qualified for studies, in such institutions.