Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/78688 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2006:11
Publisher: 
Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU), Uppsala
Abstract: 
This paper estimates the effects on earnings of “gap years” between high school and university enrollment. The effect is estimated by means of standard earnings functions augmented to account for gap years and a rich set of control variables using administrative Swedish data. We find that postponement of higher education is associated with a persistent and non-trivial earnings penalty. The main source of the persistent penalty appears to be the loss of work experience after studies. Two years postponement reduces the present value of life time earnings by 40-50 percent of annual earnings at age 40.
Subjects: 
timing of education
schooling interruptions
work experience
JEL: 
I23
J24
J31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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