The Impact of Combining Work with Study on the Labour Market Performance of Graduates: the Joint Role of Work Intensity and Job-Field Match [WP]

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of working during university education on students’ labour market performance. We jointly consider the role of work intensity and the relationship with the field of study in a framework that accounts for self-selection into different types of jobs. The empirical analysis draws on data from three successive cohorts of graduates from the Spanish region of Catalonia. Our results point out that the probability of being employed four years after graduation is significantly higher for students who have worked in jobs well-matched with their degree relative to both full-time students and students who have worked in unrelated jobs. Further, the probability of having a permanent job is generally higher for those who worked before graduation, especially in the case of jobs related to the degree. However, the likelihood of early career job-qualification match is negatively affected by pre-graduation work experiences unrelated to degree’s contents