La oferta de trabajo de los estudiantes universitarios

In this paper a discussion of the participation of college studentes in the labor market in Uruguay is presented. The participation rate of students between 18 and 30 years old is 66%. This situation arises in a context where an important percentage of students require to graduate more years than those established in the curriculum. In this context, the determinants of the labour market participation decision are studied, based on data from the Uruguayan Household Survey for 1998. Three arguments can explain the results. First, it is possible that after a year has passed, a student becomes a year older and the likelihood of participation increases, but this is counteracted by an incentive for not doing so in the case of those that succeeded in completing the school year. So, lags at the earlier years of the courses may lead to undertake labor market activity. However, the results are also consistent with arguments in which the causal relationship goes from labor participation to lagging in college completion. In this case, one determinant of the decision to supply work could be the relatively low income level of the household, but such impact seems to have a lesser magnitude. A second explanatory variable is the wage that the student can obtain. So it is possible that an “optimal lag” may arise for a student, so that there is a benefit in terms of lifetime income from working during college years even though it may cause to spend a longer period in college.