PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Shushanik Margaryan
AU  - Nils Saniter
AU  - Mathias Schumann
AU  - Thomas Siedler
TI  - Do Internships Pay Off?
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.57.4.0418-9460R2
DP  - 2020 May 12
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0418-9460R2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/05/04/jhr.57.4.0418-9460R2.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2020/05/04/jhr.57.4.0418-9460R2.full
AB  - This paper studies the causal effect of student internship experience in firms on earnings later in life. We use mandatory firm internships at German universities as an instrument for doing a firm internship while attending university. Employing longitudinal data from graduate surveys, we find positive and significant earnings returns of about 6% in both OLS and IV regressions. The positive returns are particularly pronounced for individuals and areas of study that are characterized by a weak labor market orientation. The empirical findings show that graduates who completed a firm internship face a lower risk of unemployment during the first year of their careers, suggesting a smoother transition to the labor market.