Recent college enrollees are more likely to work, and to work substantially more hours, than those of the past. October CPS data reveal that average labor supply among 18- to 22-year-old full-time undergraduates nearly doubled between 1970 and 2000, rising from 6 hours to 11 hours per week.
In 2000, over half of full-time college students were working for pay, and the average working student worked 22 hours per week. After 2000, labor supply leveled off and then fell abruptly in the wake of the Great Recession to an average of 8 hours per week in 2009.
This National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper considers several explanations for the long-term trend of rising employment―including compositional change and rising tuition costs―and considers whether the upward trend is likely to resume when economic conditions improve.
