Working to Create Work-Ready Graduates: Successful Transition to the Labor Market and the Role of Co-op

This paper investigates whether work-integrated learning (specifically co-op programs) results in higher incomes or other benefits after graduation. Analysis employs linear estimation models of the National Graduate Survey (2013) data and a subset of quasi-experimental data to determine the returns to participation in co-op for different fields of study at both the college and university level, differential effects based on individual characteristics, and the effects associated with non-monetary success in the labor market. Estimates suggest that co-op programs have significant benefits for participants in the form of easing transition to the labor market and higher incomes after graduation and that they may play a role in overcoming wage gaps associated with bias toward individual characteristics (race, gender, immigration status).