Students with modest work commitments are more likely to graduate than their unemployed and overemployed peers, and a post-Covid spike in working rates has not changed that equation, New Zealand research suggests.
An analysis of Kiwi tertiary students’ working patterns over eight years has found that those who undertook paid work at low or moderate levels had higher completion rates, on average, than those with high-intensity jobs or no jobs at all.
The relationship held steady despite a general increase in students’ employment as living costs rose from 2022. It also persisted within different demographics.
The study, by Ministry of Education economist Asaad Ali, found generally higher completion rates among female students compared with male students, full-time students compared with part-time students, bachelor’s students compared with sub-bachelor’s students, and students of European or Asian heritage compared with Māori or Pasifika students. But in almost all cases, the rates were better for students who worked a little rather than a lot or not at all.
“This pattern suggests a non‑linear relationship between work intensity and completion,” Ali writes. “Rather than declining immediately with increased work, completion outcomes are strongest at low to moderate levels of employment.”
