Students Who Work While in High School - Drop Out Rate

[Statcan]

Statistics Canada Report
May 26, 2003
http://www.statcan.ca


Relationship between working while in high school and dropping out
2000


Students who worked moderate hours at a paid job during their last
year of high school were least likely to drop out of school, according to
a new report. This report used data covering youth aged 18 to 20 from
the 2000 Youth in Transition Survey.


However, those who worked 30 or more hours a week during their last
year of high school were the most likely to end up leaving.


The report confirmed previous research showing that there is a strong
relationship between the number of hours students worked and dropping out of high school. It points to the fact that working and finishing high
school can mix, if working is done in moderation.


Although a link clearly exists between the number of hours worked and
dropping out, this study does not conclude that this is a simple
cause-and-effect relationship. Previous research suggests dropping out of
high school is more a process based on a number of factors than a
decision one makes all at once.


For example, some students may have been far enough along in the
dropping out process to prefer working to schooling. Or some may have
needed money. In fact, 44% of students who worked 30 or more hours a week reported dropping out because of "wanting to work" or "having to
work/money problems."


The report also considered other factors known to be related to
whether a student drops out, such as enjoyment of school, demographic
profile, participation in extracurricular activities, and parents'
education and occupation.


However, even after taking other factors into account, students who
worked 30 or more hours a week were 2.4 times more likely to drop out
than students with moderate work schedules (between 1 and 20 hours).
Students who did not work at all were 1.5 times more likely to drop out
than moderate workers.
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Note to readers

This report uses data from the 18- to 20-year-old cohort of the Youth
in Transition Survey, a new longitudinal survey undertaken jointly by
Statistics Canada and Human Resources Development Canada.

The survey is designed to examine key transitions in the lives of
young people as they move from high school to postsecondary education,
and from schooling to the labour market.

This report examines work activities of students during their last
year in high school. It looks at who were working, how many hours they
worked and the relationship between working and dropping out of school,
after taking other factors into account.

The report draws on data from the survey's first cycle, conducted from
January to April 2000. More than 22,000 young people aged 18 to 20 in
the 10 provinces participated.

For the purpose of this report, a high school leaver, or dropout, was
an individual aged 18 to 20 who was not in high school in December 1999,
and had not already met the minimum requirements for high school graduation.
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Students who were able to maintain a balance between their studies and the workload from their part-time jobs had the lowest risk of dropping
out of high school. These students had the advantages of a paying job -
some money, some autonomy, and some skill development - and still
obtained a high school diploma.


Most students work, and most work moderate hours


More than two-thirds of all students surveyed, or about 69%, had
worked during their last year of high school. A higher proportion of
students had worked in the provinces with lower unemployment rates.
Students were also more likely to have had a job if they had parents who
worked. Specifically, the proportion of students with a job was higher if
their mother worked than if their mother had never worked. Similarly,
students were more likely to have a job if their father worked than if
their father had never worked.

More than half of the students in the survey worked
between 1 and 30 hours a week during their last year of high school.
Slightly more than one third did not work at all, and fewer than 10%
worked more than 30 hours a week.

Young men tended to work more hours than young women. About 28% of male students worked more than 20 hours a week, compared with 21% of female students.

Information on methods and data quality available in the Integrated Meta
Data Base: survey number 4435.


The report Learning, earning and leaving: The relationship between
working while in high school and dropping out (81-595-MIE, no. 4, free)
is now available on Statistics Canada's website (www.statcan.ca). From
the Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet
publications, choose Free, then Education.


For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or
data quality of this release, contact Client Services
(1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-9040;
educationstats@statcan.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.