The technical term for this kind of path dependence is ‘hysteresis’. Another way to describe it might be that ‘extinction is forever’. There was a background trend of increased school retention, but it’s amazing how that effect was so concentrated in recessions and their aftermath. There’s a gender angle here, too, because the effect is starker for males than females.
It isn’t entirely clear why that is, but it might have had something to do with decisions to employ apprentices. 1 / 14  BIS central bankers' speeches  Structural, or perhaps we should say ‘non-economic’, factors can also have profound implications for economic outcomes.