Early Work Experience and Schooling of Young Adults in Metro Cebu, Philippines

Using panel data from 1,878 participants of the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS), this study examines early work experience of Filipino youths aged 20-22 years and the possible implications of this experience on their educational attainment, current work status, and health. Seventy two percent of the youth reported having worked at or before age 16 years (median age at first work is 13), of which 81% worked while studying and 19% stopped schooling in order to work. Of those who were working at ages 14-16, 46% were working for pay, while 54% were unpaid family workers. Gender differences were apparent in these experiences, thus gender-stratified analysis was employed. At the bivariate level, early work experience in conjunction with schooling status is shown to be associated with educational level, work status and earnings, and psychosocial and nutritional wellbeing at ages 20-22 years. Multivariate linear and multinomial logistic regression analyses took into account possible confounding factors such as mother’s age, education, number of living children, household assets and the community’s level of urbanization. Preliminary analysis has shown that early work experience demonstrated adverse and gender-specific influences on some aspects of human capital formation among Filipino young adults.