Abstract:
This study examines the effect of early work experience on future labor market outcomes in Russia,
taking into account the work intensity. The paper aims to identify the wage returns associated with working
while studying at university in recent years and analyze the effect of differentiating between early and post graduation work experiences on the returns to other wage determinants. The study relies on the Mincerian
specification for the earnings function and uses Heckman’s 2-step selection to account for possible selection
bias. The results suggest that having early work experience positively affects post-graduation labor market
outcomes. The regression output shows that working full-time while studying at university yields the highest
returns compared to the effects of part-time early work experience and working over breaks. Additionally,
including early work experience in the standard model for estimating the wage determinants may show that
the effects of education and experience may be overstated when the model does not control for having work
experience before graduation