Knocking on Employment´s Door: Internships and Job Attainment

Undergraduate internships have gained popularity among students, universities, government and firms since the creation of the European Higher Education Area. However, empirical research on the relationship between internships and labour market performance of graduates is still scarce, particularly in Spain. This paper examines whether internships improve the job attainment in the short run (first employment after graduation) and in the medium /long term (employment four years later). We use the first Spanish University Graduate Job Placement Survey (2014) to estimate linear probability models and probit models. A novel econometric technique is also implemented to evaluate the sensitivity of our findings to omitted variable bias. We disentangle the internship effect on: (i) the speed to find the first job; (ii) the vertical, horizontal and skill/competence matching with the first job; (iii) being employed in the medium/ long term; (iv) the vertical and horizontal matching with the current employment; and (v) wage quintiles of the current job. Our results show that the internship experience smooths the university-to-work transition for Spanish graduates. Although internships effects on employment do not vanish in the medium/long term, there is weak evidence of positive effects on matching or wages four years after graduation.