The Program and Treatment Effect of Summer Jobs on Girls’ Post-Schooling Incomes

Abstract

Public programs (of disputed effect) offering summer jobs or work while in high school to smooth the transition from school to work is commonplace. In this paper, 1447 girls in their first grade of high school between 1997-2003 and randomly allotted summer jobs via a program in Falun (Sweden) are followed 5-12 years after graduation. The program led to a substantially larger accumulation of income while in high school. The causal effect of the high school income on post-schooling incomes was substantial and statistically significant.The implied elasticity of 0.4 is however potentially inflated due to heterogeneous effects.

Student Employment and Later Labour Market Success: No Evidence for Higher Employment Chances

“…Other studies report heterogeneous (but non‐negative) effects. For instance, Alam et al () report a positive effect of accumulated income during secondary education on yearly income during the first ten years after graduation in Sweden, but only for females. In addition, Geel and Backes‐Gellner () find a positive relationship between months of student employment during tertiary education and labour market success (employment, wages and job responsibility), one and five years after graduation in Switzerland, but only for student work related to the field of study.…”

“…However, the effect of students' work decisions on their economic attainment may go beyond the short term due to the impact of these decisions on their (schooling and) later labour market outcomes. Therefore, the question is whether providing general incentives to combine study and work – an increasingly common practice among many OECD countries (Alam et al, ) – is an effective policy orientation. Gaining some deeper understanding of whether, why and when student employment contributes to favourable labour market outcomes is necessary in order to answer this question in the proper way.…”

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

“…Carr et al (1996), Ehrenberg and Sherman (1987) and Parent (2006) note no substantial effect of work experience during high school and college on later wages in the short-and long-term in the United States and Canada. In contrast, Alam et al (2013), Häkkinen (2006), Light (1999Light ( , 2001 and Ruhm (1997) find a (short-lived) positive effect on wages and/or employment in Sweden, Finland and the United States. In addition, Geel and Backes-Gellner (2012) find a positive effect on wages in Switzerland, but only for student employment related to the field of study.…”

“…However, the effect of students' work decisions on their economic attainment may go beyond the short term due to the impact of these decisions on their (schooling and) later labour market outcomes. Therefore, the question is whether providing general incentives to combine study and work -an increasingly common practice among many OECD countries (Alam et al, 2013) -is an effective policy orientation. Gaining some deeper understanding of whether, why and when student employment contributes to favourable labour market outcomes is necessary in order to answer this question in the proper way.…”

What do student jobs on graduate CVs signal to employers?

“…Given both the high prevalence and potential important consequences of student work, these questions have triggered the interest of the scientific community in recent years. Furthermore, over the past few years, student employment also got the attention of policy makers, with many OECD countries supporting and incentivising students to combine study and work (Alam, Carling, & Nääs, 2013;Baert, Rotsaert, Verhaest, & Omey, 2016).…”