Chapter 6 Employment and time budget Key findings Students’ employment rate: In more than half of the EUROSTUDENT countries, at least 40 % of students not living with parents engage in paid employment alongside their studies. The employment rate varies especially with students’ educational background and age. Employment during term-time is more common among students without higher education background. Older students also engage in paid jobs more frequently than their younger peers. Students’ motivation to work: Students mainly work alongside their studies to finance their living, improve their living standard, and to gain work experience. In almost two thirds of the EUROSTUDENT countries, ‘improving living standard’ is the most common reason why students take up paid jobs. In about one third of the EUROSTUDENT countries, the majority of students work during term-time to finance their living. Students’ motivation to work is dependent on their educational background and age. In all EUROSTUDENT countries, students without higher education background take up paid jobs mainly to finance their living, whereas in the majority of countries students with higher education background work more often to gain experience. Likewise, in all of the countries, older students (at least 30 years old) engage in paid employment more often to finance their living.
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Students’ overall time budget: The weekly time budget of students not living with parents is relatively higher than that of their peers living at home. In most of the countries, students have a weekly time budget of more than 40 hours which includes time spent on taught studies, personal study time, and paid jobs. Age is strongly related to students’ overall time budget as well as its composition. Older students have a higher overall time budget and they tend to spend considerably more time on paid jobs compared to those who are younger than 22 years in all EUROSTUDENT countries. Time spent on study-related activities by extent of paid employment: Students with no paid employment during term-time, on average across all EUROSTUDENT countries, spend 38 hours per week on study-related activities (taught studies and personal study time). Increasing time spent on gainful employment is associated with a reduction in time for study-related activities as well as an overall increase in students’ time budget. This implies that additional time spent on paid jobs is balanced by cutting down on study-related activities, but also at the expense of students’ leisure time.
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