The labour market participation of Northern Ireland University Students

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine what factors are associated with student labour force participation in Northern Ireland in both term-time and vacation making use of Quarterly Labour Force Survey data for the period March 1998–February 1999. The results suggest female students are more likely to work than male students, mature students are less likely to work than non-mature students, Roman Catholic students are less likely to work than non-Roman Catholic students, students living at home are more likely to work than student living away from home and an increase in the actual or predicted wage increases the probability of labour force participation. The author suggests that some of these results are due to the particular nature of the Northern Ireland socio-economic situation while others are likely to be true for the rest of the United Kingdom.