Students who work more than 30 hours most likely dropouts

Community Action, June 16, 2003

OTTAWA -- Students who worked more than 30 hours at a paid job during their last year of high school were likely to drop out of school. However, those who worked less than 30 hours a week were the least likely to end up leaving.

The report Learning, earning and leaving: the relationship between working while in high school and dropping out (81-595-MIE) indicates that:

* 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.

"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; working and finishing high school can mix, if working is done in moderation."

The link between the number of hours worked is not a simple cause-and-effect relationship. Dropping out of high school is a process based on a number of factors than a decision one makes all at once. The study indicates that:

* some students may have been far enough along in the dropping out process to prefer working to schooling; or

* some may have needed money.

The report also indicates that:

* 69% of students surveyed 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.

* the proportion of students with a job was higher if their mother worked than if their mother had never worked.

* students were more likely to have a job if their father worked than if their father had never worked.

* Young men tended to work more hours than young women.