A Signal of Diligence? Student Work Experience and Later Employment Chances

Does working while studying affect education mismatch among youth? Evidence from Zambia

“…Similarly, Jewell (2014) found that working while studying has a negative impact on academic performance among graduate students in the United Kingdom. Baert et al (2015) also found that students' work experience did not enhance initial recruitment decisions and some subgroups of respondents experienced adverse effects based on their type of education and level of occupation. The empirical literature also shows that the underuse of skills can have a scarring effect but the negative signal of overeducation is better than being unemployed (Baert et al, 2013).…”

“…Similarly, Jewell (2014) found that working while studying has a negative impact on academic performance among graduate students in the United Kingdom. Baert et al. (2015) also found that students' work experience did not enhance initial recruitment decisions and some subgroups of respondents experienced adverse effects based on their type of education and level of occupation.…”

“…Similarly, although Carnevale et al (2015) indicated that combining work and learning was beneficial if the work was in the same field as the respondent had studied in, they found that working while studying tended to negatively affect less-privileged learners who worked additional hours for survival. Furthermore, Baert et al (2015) found a negative IJM 44,6 association between the number of hours worked and the percentage of courses passed for work-oriented students, indicating that longer working hours reduced academic performance. While the above literature provides insight into the factors associated with working while studying, none of them explore the relationship between working while studying and education mismatch in the context of a developing country such as Zambia.…”

“…(2015) indicated that combining work and learning was beneficial if the work was in the same field as the respondent had studied in, they found that working while studying tended to negatively affect less-privileged learners who worked additional hours for survival. Furthermore, Baert et al. (2015) found a negative association between the number of hours worked and the percentage of courses passed for work-oriented students, indicating that longer working hours reduced academic performance.…”