IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/isu/genstf/200806010700001232.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

High School Employment, School Performance, and College Entry

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Chanyoung
  • Orazem, Peter F.

Abstract

The proportion of U.S. high school students working during the school year ranges from 23% in the freshman year to 75% in the senior year. This study estimates how cumulative work histories during the high school years affect probability of dropout, high school academic performance, and the probability of attending college. Variation in individual date of birth and in state truancy laws along with the strength of local demand for low-skill labor are used as instruments for endogenous work hours during the high school career. Working more hours during the academic year does not affect high school academic performance. However, increased high school work intensity raises the likelihood of completing high school but lowers the probability of going to college. These results are similar for boys and girls, and so working during high school does not explain the widening gap in college entry between men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Chanyoung & Orazem, Peter F., 2008. "High School Employment, School Performance, and College Entry," ISU General Staff Papers 200806010700001232, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:isu:genstf:200806010700001232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/3354b189-5f3b-4e9e-be8b-1daa42890a61/content
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John H. Tyler, 2003. "Using State Child Labor Laws to Identify the Effect of School-Year Work on High School Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 353-380, April.
    2. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd R. Stinebrickner, 2003. "Working during School and Academic Performance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 449-472, April.
    3. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    4. Eckstein, Z. & Wolpin, K.I., 1997. "Youth Employment and Academic Perfomance in High School," Papers 24-97, Tel Aviv.
    5. Stephen V. Cameron & Christopher Taber, 2004. "Estimation of Educational Borrowing Constraints Using Returns to Schooling," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(1), pages 132-182, February.
    6. Dan A. Black & Terra G. McKinnish & Seth G. Sanders, 2005. "Tight Labor Markets and the Demand for Education: Evidence from the Coal Boom and Bust," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 59(1), pages 3-16, October.
    7. Donna S. Rothstein, 2007. "High School Employment and Youths' Academic Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(1).
    8. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Keueger, 1991. "Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 979-1014.
    9. Ruhm, Christopher J, 1997. "Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(4), pages 735-776, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Charles L. Baum & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "The Changing Benefits of Early Work Experience," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(2), pages 343-363, October.
    2. Amy Bergenwall & E. Kelloway & Julian Barling, 2014. "Odd Jobs, Bad Habits, and Ethical Implications: Smoking-Related Outcomes of Children’s Early Employment Intensity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(2), pages 269-282, June.
    3. Joseph Sabia & Daniel Rees, 2015. "Body weight, mental health capital, and academic achievement," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 653-684, September.
    4. Torun, Huzeyfe & Tumen, Semih, 2016. "The Empirical Content of Season-of-Birth Effects: An Investigation with Turkish Data," IZA Discussion Papers 10203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Huang, Fung-Mey & Liao, Jen-Che & Yi, Chin-Chun, 2020. "The impact of labor market work and educational tracking on student educational outcomes: Evidence from Taiwan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    6. Mariya Burdina & James Davenport & Sue Lynn Sasser, 2016. "The Perceptions and Attitudes of Oklahoma College Students about Free Markets and Government Regulations," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 16(1), pages 22-35, Fall.
    7. Brecht Neyt & Eddy Omey & Dieter Verhaest & Stijn Baert, 2019. "Does Student Work Really Affect Educational Outcomes? A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 896-921, July.
    8. Tjaša Bartolj & Sašo Polanec, 2018. "Does Work Harm Academic Performance of Students? Evidence Using Propensity Score Matching," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(4), pages 401-429, June.
    9. Lesner, Rune Vammen & Damm, Anna Piil & Bertelsen, Preben & Pedersen, Mads Uffe, 2022. "The Effect of School-Year Employment on Cognitive Skills, Risky Behavior, and Educational Achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Huzeyfe Torun & Semih Tumen, 2017. "The empirical content of season-of-birth effects: An investigation with Turkish data," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(57), pages 1825-1860.
    11. Russell Ormiston, 2016. "Does High School Employment Develop Marketable Skills?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 53-68, March.
    12. Bachmann, Andreas & Boes, Stefan, 2014. "Private transfers and college students’ decision to work," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 34-42.
    13. Kasey S. Buckles & Daniel M. Hungerman, 2013. "Season of Birth and Later Outcomes: Old Questions, New Answers," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(3), pages 711-724, July.
    14. Moudud Alam & Kenneth Carling & Ola Nääs, 2015. "The Program and Treatment Effect of Summer Jobs on Girls’ Post-Schooling Incomes," Evaluation Review, , vol. 39(3), pages 339-359, June.
    15. Elliott Fan & Jin-Tan Liu & Yen-Chien Chen, 2017. "Is the Quarter of Birth Endogenous? New Evidence from Taiwan, the US, and Indonesia," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(6), pages 1087-1124, December.
    16. Elliott Fan & Jin-Tan Liu & Yen-Chien Chen, 2014. "Is the 'Quarter of Birth' Endogenous? Evidence From One Million Siblings in Taiwan," NBER Working Papers 20444, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Alam, Moudud & Carling, Kenneth & Nääs, Ola, 2013. "The effect of summer jobs on post-schooling incomes," Working Paper Series 2013:24, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    18. Rune V. Lesner & Anna Piil Damm & Preben Bertelsen & Mads Uffe Pedersen, 2018. "Life Skills Development of Teenagers through Spare-Time Jobs," Economics Working Papers 2018-09, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    19. Russell Ormiston, 2016. "Does High School Employment Develop Marketable Skills?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 53-68, March.
    20. Laura M. Crispin & Michael Kofoed, 2019. "Does Time To Work Limit Time To Play?: Estimating A Time Allocation Model For High School Students By Household Socioeconomic Status," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 524-544, July.

    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. Charles L. Baum & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "The Changing Benefits of Early Work Experience," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(2), pages 343-363, October.
    2. Scott-Clayton, Judith, 2012. "What Explains Trends in Labor Supply Among U.S. Undergraduates?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 65(1), pages 181-210, March.
    3. Brecht Neyt & Eddy Omey & Dieter Verhaest & Stijn Baert, 2019. "Does Student Work Really Affect Educational Outcomes? A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(3), pages 896-921, July.
    4. Tjaša Bartolj & Sašo Polanec, 2018. "Does Work Harm Academic Performance of Students? Evidence Using Propensity Score Matching," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(4), pages 401-429, June.
    5. Franz Buscha & Arnaud Maurel & Lionel Page & Stefan Speckesser, 2007. "The Effect of High School Employment on Educational Attainment : A Conditional Difference-in-Differences Approach," Working Papers 2007-40, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    6. María Victoria Fazio, 2004. "Incidencia de las Horas Trabajadas en el Rendimiento Académico de Estudiantes Universitarios Argentinos," Department of Economics, Working Papers 052, Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    7. María Victoria Fazio, 2004. "Incidencia de las Horas Trabajadas en el Rendimiento Académico de Estudiantes Universitarios Argentinos," CEDLAS, Working Papers 0010, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata.
    8. Holford, Angus, 2015. "Youth employment and academic performance: production functions and policy effects," ISER Working Paper Series 2015-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    9. Jeffrey S. DeSimone, 2008. "The Impact of Employment during School on College Student Academic Performance," NBER Working Papers 14006, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Sabia, Joseph J., 2009. "School-year employment and academic performance of young adolescents," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 268-276, April.
    11. Huang, Fung-Mey & Liao, Jen-Che & Yi, Chin-Chun, 2020. "The impact of labor market work and educational tracking on student educational outcomes: Evidence from Taiwan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Cristina Lopez-Mayan, 2013. "Performance in Post-compulsory Education: Evidence from Vocational and Academic Tracks," Working Papers wpdea1302, Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona.
    13. Rune V. Lesner & Anna Piil Damm & Preben Bertelsen & Mads Uffe Pedersen, 2018. "Life Skills Development of Teenagers through Spare-Time Jobs," Economics Working Papers 2018-09, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    14. Judith Scott-Clayton, 2012. "What Explains Trends in Labor Supply Among U.S. Undergraduates, 1970-2009?," NBER Working Papers 17744, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Magali Beffy & Denis Fougère & Arnaud Maurel, 2009. "L’impact du travail salarié des étudiants sur la réussite et la poursuite des études universitaires," Économie et Statistique, Programme National Persée, vol. 422(1), pages 31-50.
    16. Fougère, Denis & Beffy, Magali & Maurel, Arnaud, 2013. "The Effect of College Employment on Graduation: Evidence from France," CEPR Discussion Papers 9565, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Phipps, Aaron & Amaya, Alexander, 2023. "Are students time constrained? Course load, GPA, and failing," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 225(C).
    18. Victoria Gunnarsson & Peter F. Orazem & Mario A. Sánchez & Aimee Verdisco, 2009. "Does Local School Control Raise Student Outcomes? Evidence on the Roles of School Autonomy and Parental Participation," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 58(1), pages 25-52, October.
    19. Lesner, Rune Vammen & Damm, Anna Piil & Bertelsen, Preben & Pedersen, Mads Uffe, 2022. "The Effect of School-Year Employment on Cognitive Skills, Risky Behavior, and Educational Achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    20. Carolyn J. Heinrich & Huiping Cheng, 2022. "Does Online Credit Recovery in High School Support or Stymie Later Labor Market Success?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 984-1011, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative

    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:isu:genstf:200806010700001232. 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: Curtis Balmer (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deiasus.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.