Does Student Work Really Affect Educational Outcomes? A Review of the Literature

Abstract

We review the theories put forward, methodological approaches used and empirical conclusions found in the multidisciplinary literature on the relationship between student employment and educational outcomes. A systematic comparison of the empirical work yields new insights that go beyond the overall reported negative effect of more intensive working schemes and that are of high academic and policy relevance. One such insight uncovered by our review is that student employment seems to have a more adverse effect on educational decisions (continuing studies and enrolment in tertiary education) than on educational performance (test and exam scores).

Experiencia laboral durante los estudios y desajuste educativo en el primer empleo en los graduados universitarios españoles

“…En tales casos, la igualdad de oportunidades puede verse comprometida, ya que trabajar mientras se estudia reduce tanto las posibilidades de graduarse (Hovdhaugen, 2015) como las de obtener buenas notas (Triventi, 2014), sobre todo si el trabajo es intenso -Sánchez-Gelabert et al (2017) lo advierten en egresados de universidades catalanas, Bonnal et al (2018) en universidades francesas y Baert et al (2018) en Flandes. Corroboran así la evidencia resumida la revisión de la literatura que aparece en Neyt et al (2017).…”

Dropping out of university: a literature review

“…Moreover, working while studying impacts on female students more strongly than on male students. A very recent review on this topic was conducted by Neyt et al (2019) and reports a mainly negative effect of student work on continuing studies.…”

Caught in the Cycle: Economic Conditions at Enrollment and Labor Market Outcomes of College Graduates

“…Using data from the American Time Use Surveys, Kalenkoski and Pabilonia (2012) show that working time crowds out time devoted to school-related tasks among high school students. Stinebrickner (2004, 2008) show that study time has an important effect on grades and other educational outcomes, while Darolia (2014) and Neyt et al (2019) find that working has a negative impact on students' academic performance.…”

“…First, the increase in cohort size due to countercyclical enrollment would lead to increased competition, which might encourage higher effort (see Morin, 2015, for evidence on the relationship between cohort size and effort among male university students). Second, the lack of (part-time) employment opportunities might allow students to dedicate an increased proportion of their time towards their academic studies (see Darolia, 2014;Neyt et al, 2019, for evidence on the relationship between employment and student outcomes). Finally, as suggested by the impressionable years hypothesis (Krosnick and Alwin, 1987), the experience of poor economic conditions during early adulthood might generate a change in attitudes among the students that enroll in bad times, leading them to adjust their effort levels in university.…”