Work Matters Consequences of High School Employment on College Attendance

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Work MattersConsequences of High School
Employment on College Attendance

• Irina Voloshin
• University of Washington
• UW-Beyond High School Project Workshop
• October 19th, 2007

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The Life of a High School Senior
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An Often-Neglected Component of the High School
Experience
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Presentation Overview

• Theoretical Framework
• Measuring Work Salient Dimensions of the Teen
  Labor Market
• UW-BHS Data on Student Employment
• Descriptive and Multivariate Findings
• Preliminary Conclusions

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Theories About Consequences of Teen Work

• Is work a Zero-Sum or Plus-Sum Game?
• Can work and school be effectively combined?
• Positive Socialization or Rote Tasks?
• Can jobs impart skills and habits that facilitate
  academic orientation and achievement?

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Dimensions of Student Employment

• Work Status Is student currently employed?
• Work Intensity How many hours per week does the
  student work, on average?
• Occupational Type
• Employer (company or private) of the student
• Employers main commercial activity
• Students job title
• Students most important activities as part of
  his/her job

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Survey Questions Employment Status
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Survey Questions Type of Work
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UW-BHS Data and Job Type Measures

• Self-reported employer and job information from
  which we code students into three job categories
  utilizing the 2000 Census Industrial and
  Occupational Classification
• Typical Teen Jobs (food service, retail/sales,
  personal services)
• Blue Collar Jobs (packing/shipping, warehouse
  work, factory work, landscaping work)
• White/Pink Collar Jobs (office work, tutoring,
  lifeguards)

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Are Working Students Different from Non-Workers?

• 52 of sample employed
• Characteristics of workers
• 59 Female
• 62 White
• 72 Third Generation
• 38 Parents have at least a 4-year degree
• 33 Expect a graduate/professional degree

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Work Intensity and Student Characteristics
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Type of Work andStudent Characteristics
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Our Research Design

• We Account For
• Timing
• Selectivity into Work
• We Identify
• Key aspects of student jobs
• Net effects of employment

Background and Academic Student
Characteristics
Dimensions of Employment
College Enrollment 4-year 2-year No College

• Work Status
• Work Intensity
• (hrs/wk)
• Occupation

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Descriptive Findings Work Intensity and College
Attendance
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Descriptive Findings Job Type and College
Attendance
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Results from Multivariate Models

• Holding constant gender, race/ethnicity,
  immigrant status, schools, background SES,
  academic achievement and expectations of
  students, we find that
• Work Status per se does NOT have an effect
• Work Characteristics (both the work intensity and
  the quality of student jobs) DO significantly
  impact college attendance

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Results from Multivariate Models Work Intensity

• Low Work Intensity (less than 12 hours) is
  associated with greater likelihood of attending
  college
• Over 3 times more likely to attend a 4-year
  college than not attend college at all
• Over 1.5 times more likely to attend a 2-year
  college
• High Work Intensity (over 20 hours) is associated
  with lower likelihood of post-secondary enrollment

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Results from Multivariate Models Job Type

• Students in White/Pink collar jobs are more
  likely to go to a 4-year university than those in
  typical teen jobsor in blue collar jobs
• Blue collar workers are slightly more likely to
  report no post-secondary enrollment

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Conclusions

• While work status in itself does not affect
  college enrollment one year after high school
  graduation, work intensity and job type do.
• Low work intensity and jobs with greater
  responsibility and task differentiation are
  positively related to 4-year college attendance
• High work intensity (especially more than 26
  hours per week) and typical teen jobs are
  associated with lower post-secondary academic
  attainment
• How will these results hold up for college
  graduation? Occupational attainment after
  college? Stay tuned