Working while studying: Employment premium or penalty for youth?

Abstract

Most youths in developing countries leave school with only a general academic education level, slowing down their transition to the labour market. We analyse whether work experience during school can ease youth transition to first job in Benin. Using data from the 2014 School-to-Work Transition Survey (SWTS), we estimate a three-equation model to control for endogenous treatment assignment and sample selection and a hazard frailty model. We find that working while studying eases transition from school to first job. However, these findings were significant only for men and youth who left school with at least a secondary education.