From Class to Career: How Work Integrated Learning Benefits Graduates Looking for Jobs

• Work integrated learning (WIL) is associated with easing graduates’ transition into the labour market, as measured by employment outcomes such as income, employment status, or whether the occupation matches the student’s field of study. This report analyses newly available data to provide insights into the success of different types of WIL (e.g., co-op programs and paid and unpaid work placements) and provides new estimates of the returns to WIL in Canadian postsecondary education (PSE). • The results show that WIL programs are associated with improved labour market outcomes but the benefits differ by program type, gender, field of study, educational institution and other factors. For example: participating in a co-op program is associated with larger benefits for men than for women. Conversely, participating in a work placement after classes end is associated with larger benefits for women than for men, particularly at the college level. • Governments spend millions of dollars supporting WIL programs through tax credits, subsidies and direct funding. Insights about the different benefits to graduates entering the job market are important to ensuring that WIL programs are consistently refined as they are expanded and that the case for government subsidization is evidence-based.