Working During College: Stumbling Block or Stepping-Stone?

• In Event: 81.017 - Supporting Students' Workforce Readiness

Abstract

The majority of today’s undergraduates (62%) work for pay while enrolled in college. Prior research has documented negative effects of working during college on grades and graduation but has largely overlooked a positive aspect of the working student phenomenon. We find that undergraduates from a non-elite public university system who worked for pay during college had substantially higher earnings years later after leaving college, compared to non-working counterparts. This economic benefit associated with employment in college held for women and men; for racial/ethnic minorities; for community college and four-year college entrants; for those who had no work experience before starting college; and even among those who did not complete a degree.

Authors

• Dirk Witteveen, University of Oxford - Nuffield College

• Daniel Douglas, Trinity College

• Paul Attewell, City College of New York - CUNY