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The Effects of Working While in School: Evidence from Employment Lotteries

  • Thomas Le Barbanchon
  • Diego Ubfal
  • Federico Araya
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 15, no. 1, January 2023
(pp. 383-410)
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Abstract

Does working while in school smooth students' transition into the labor market? We provide evidence on this question by leveraging a one-year work-study program that randomized job offers among over 90,000 student applicants in Uruguay. Program rules forbade employers from employing participants in the same job after program completion, and less than 5 percent of participants ever worked in the same firm again. Two years after the program, participants had 8 percent higher earnings. Our results suggest that the program's focus on work-related skills was a key mechanism for earnings impacts.

Citation

Le Barbanchon, Thomas, Diego Ubfal, and Federico Araya. 2023. "The Effects of Working While in School: Evidence from Employment Lotteries." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 15 (1): 383-410. DOI: 10.1257/app.20210041

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • I21 Analysis of Education
  • I26 Returns to Education
  • J13 Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
  • J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
  • J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
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