College Intern Labor Markets: Unequal Access and Distribution

• In Event: Understudied and Unexamined Facets of Work-Related Experiential Opportunities

Abstract

This study examines internship labor markets and how they are distributed geographically across the United States. Most interns work in the same zip code in which they attended school (Hora, Colston, Chen, & Pasqualone, 2021). Given this, many interns are likely geographically constrained, suggesting that they experience spatial inequalities prevalent in both economic (Massey, 1995) and educational (Hillman, 2016) opportunities. This study explores the measurement of geographic internship labor markets and the extent to which these markets are associated with socio-economic and demographic characteristics by answering the following questions:

1) How are internship labor markets measured?
2) What socio-economic and demographic characteristics are associated with more or less competitive intern labor markets?
While two other papers (Jaeger et al., 2020; Shandra, 2020) have examined intern labor markets using job ad data from the demand side—exploring what employers want from interns—this study offers an extension by including supply-side analyses, as well as the use of commuting zones (CZ) rather than metro areas. Our data draw from public national datasets such as the Census’ American Community Survey (ACS), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). We also use proprietary Burning Glass Inc. (BG) data on geotagged job postings and skill clusters. Table 1 (see table 1 below with references for paper 3) displays the sources and variables used in the analysis. The data were aggregated to the CZ level. CZs are statistically derived clusters of counties generated by the USDA and were most recently updated by Fowler, Rhubart, & Jensen (2016). The unit of analysis for the findings were CZs (n = 625).
The key dependent variable for this study is the Intern Supply Ratio (ISR), calculated by dividing the total enrollment in all postsecondary institutions in IPEDS by the total internship job postings for each CZ. Of the 625 CZs in the analysis, 110 had no enrollment whatsoever and thus have a ratio of 0; 39 of these also had no internship job postings. The average ratio was 239.97, indicating that, on average, there are roughly 240 potential interns for every 1 internship job posting in a CZ. Figure 1 (see figure 1 below with references for paper 3) displays a map of ISR quintiles by CZ.
Further analyses will include descriptive regression modeling examining how Census demographic and socio-economic variables predict ISR and intern labor market competitiveness. This study contributes to the study of the geography of opportunity by examining an often-overlooked angle to postsecondary student experience and workforce transition: the geographic labor market for internships, often seen as an important gateway and high-impact practice of colleges and universities.

Author

• Jared D. Colston, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author