The Benefits of Early Work Experience for School Dropouts: Evidence From a Field Experiment

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the question of whether job‐related work experience, especially in tight occupations, is sufficient to increase the employment opportunities of school dropouts in comparison with graduates. To answer this question, we conducted a correspondence study with 6400 applications sent to real job offers and 8200 unsolicited applications between January and December 2018. We find that dropouts have lower probabilities of being interviewed for job positions than graduates, but this gap narrows for dropouts who gained work experience and even more so when skills certification is associated. Furthermore, we find that tougher competition with external job seekers shrinks the interview rate of all applicants toward the minimum interview observed rate.