IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/labour/v35y2021i3p348-377.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Access and returns to unpaid graduate work experience

Author

Listed:
  • Angus Holford

Abstract

We use longitudinal data on graduates from UK universities to evaluate whether unpaid work experience is a stepping stone into paid or stable employment. We document the characteristics and occupations of recent graduates taking unpaid work experience and then use propensity score matching to estimate the treatment effect of unpaid work experience on outcomes 3.5 years after graduation. We find negative treatment effects compared with initially being in paid work, on annual salary (£2900), job security and attainment of a professional occupation (both 9% pts). We find no evidence of a benefit to salary or job attributes compared with initially being out of the labour force.

Suggested Citation

  • Angus Holford, 2021. "Access and returns to unpaid graduate work experience," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 35(3), pages 348-377, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:35:y:2021:i:3:p:348-377
    DOI: 10.1111/labr.12196
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/labr.12196
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/labr.12196?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Program Heterogeneity And Propensity Score Matching: An Application To The Evaluation Of Active Labor Market Policies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(2), pages 205-220, May.
    2. Jesse Rothstein & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2007. "Constrained After College: Student Loans and Early Career Occupational Choices," Working Papers 146, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    3. Bart Cockx & Matteo Picchio, 2012. "Are Short-lived Jobs Stepping Stones to Long-Lasting Jobs?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(5), pages 646-675, October.
    4. Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman, 2002. "The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post--secondary Schooling," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 705-734, October.
    5. Andrea Ichino & Fabrizia Mealli & Tommaso Nannicini, 2008. "From temporary help jobs to permanent employment: what can we learn from matching estimators and their sensitivity?," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 305-327.
    6. Minicozzi, Alexandra, 2005. "The short term effect of educational debt on job decisions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 417-430, August.
    7. DiPrete, Thomas A. & Gangl, Markus, 2004. "Assessing bias in the estimation of causal effects: Rosenbaum bounds on matching estimators and instrumental variables estimation with imperfect instruments," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Labor Market Policy and Employment SP I 2004-101, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    8. Rothstein, Jesse & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 2011. "Constrained after college: Student loans and early-career occupational choices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 149-163.
    9. Daniëlle Bertrand-Cloodt & Frank Cörvers & Ben Kriechel & Jesper Thor, 2012. "Why Do Recent Graduates Enter into Flexible Jobs?," De Economist, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 157-175, June.
    10. Alison L. Booth & Marco Francesconi & Jeff Frank, 2002. "Temporary Jobs: Stepping Stones Or Dead Ends?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(480), pages 189-213, June.
    11. Erica Field, 2009. "Educational Debt Burden and Career Choice: Evidence from a Financial Aid Experiment at NYU Law School," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 1-21, January.
    12. repec:diw:diwwpp:dp659 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Sascha O. Becker & Marco Caliendo, 2007. "Sensitivity analysis for average treatment effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 7(1), pages 71-83, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jesse Rothstein & Cecilia Elena Rouse, 2007. "Constrained After College: Student Loans and Early Career Occupational Choices," Working Papers 146, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    2. Rothstein, Jesse & Rouse, Cecilia Elena, 2011. "Constrained after college: Student loans and early-career occupational choices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1-2), pages 149-163, February.
    3. Gicheva, Dora, 2011. "Does the Student-Loan Burden Weigh into the Decision to Start a Family?," UNCG Economics Working Papers 11-14, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    4. Holford, Angus J., 2017. "Access to and Returns from Unpaid Graduate Internships," IZA Discussion Papers 10845, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Jinhee Kim & Swarn Chatterjee, 2019. "Student Loans, Health, and Life Satisfaction of US Households: Evidence from a Panel Study," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 36-50, March.
    6. Rajeev Darolia, 2013. "Student Loan Repayment and College Accountability," Consumer Finance Institute discussion papers 13-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    7. Kaas, Leo & Zink, Stefan, 2011. "Human capital investment with competitive labor search," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 520-534, May.
    8. Montoya, Ana Maria & Noton, Carlos & Solis, Alex, 2018. "The Returns to College Choice: Loans, Scholarships and Labor Outcomes," Working Paper Series 2018:12, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    9. Fenaba Addo, 2014. "Debt, Cohabitation, and Marriage in Young Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1677-1701, October.
    10. DesJardins, Stephen L. & McCall, Brian P., 2014. "The impact of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program on college and post-college related choices of high ability, low-income minority students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 124-138.
    11. John Mondragon & Janice Eberly & Gene Amromin, 2017. "The Housing Crisis and the Rise in Student Loans," 2017 Meeting Papers 369, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    12. Albanese, Andrea & Gallo, Giovanni, 2020. "Buy flexible, pay more: The role of temporary contracts on wage inequality," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    13. Rajeev Darolia, 2015. "Messengers of Bad News or Bad Apples? Student Debt and College Accountability," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(2), pages 277-299, March.
    14. Sieg, Holger & Wang, Yu, 2018. "The impact of student debt on education, career, and marriage choices of female lawyers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 124-147.
    15. Holger Sieg & Yu Wang, 2017. "The Impact of Student Debt on Education, Career, and Marriage Choices of Female Lawyers," NBER Working Papers 23453, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. William Elliott & Melinda Lewis, 2015. "Student Debt Effects On Financial Well-Being: Research And Policy Implications," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 614-636, September.
    17. James Monks, 2014. "The Role of Institutional and State Aid Policies in Average Student Debt," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 655(1), pages 123-142, September.
    18. Frenette, Marc, 2011. "Is Debt Relief as Good as Liquidity? The Impact of Prospective Student Debt on Post-Secondary Attendance among Low-Income Youth," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2011-7, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 29 Mar 2011.
    19. Gicheva, Dora, 2016. "Student loans or marriage? A look at the highly educated," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 207-216.
    20. Steven A. Boutcher & Jason N. Houle & Anna Raup‐Kounovksy & Carroll Seron, 2023. "A Faustian bargain? Rethinking the role of debt in law students' career choices," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(1), pages 166-195, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:labour:v:35:y:2021:i:3:p:348-377. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csrotit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.