Exploring The Relationship Between Extracurricular Participation And Probability Of Employment For High School Graduates

Extracurricular activities are gaining more attention from educators and policy makers, as they are considered a means to increase academic achievement as well as to provide social and emotional enrichment. Research focused on participation in these activities and its possible link to various labor market outcomes tests whether extracurricular activities support one of the basic goals of education: to prepare a skilled labor force. This study examines the implications of participating in extracurricular activities during high school for a very specific population: high school graduates who do not immediately enroll in any type of post secondary education after high school. Within this population, extracurricular participants and non-participants are compared, on their likelihoods of being employed the year after finishing high school. This relationship is subdivided by five types of extracurricular activities a student participated in, specifically: athletics, leadership, arts, clubs, and academics activities. Of the five activities studied in this paper, participation in leadership extracurriculars is associated with the highest likelihood of being employed directly after completing high school for among these students. Participation in athletic extracurricular activities is negatively related to being employed directly after graduation for these students.