Giving Compass' Take:

• Research shows that having work experience while in high school and college has proven more beneficial for students later on in life. 

• Will the emergence of a more tech-focused workforce change these types of jobs for students? 

• Read about how young people are developing tech skills for the workplace. 

The growth of the college wage premium — the added financial benefit accruing to employees with a few years of college education, and especially completed degrees — has slowed since the 1980s, according to a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Additionally, the study’s authors argue that the effects of holding a job while simultaneously enrolled in high school or college are more beneficial than schooling alone.

Even workaday college jobs like barista or busboy stand out to hiring managers, since they require professional attributes like punctuality and teamwork.

The study, conducted by economists at Duke, Pepperdine, and the University of Oklahoma, builds on existing research on the impact of education and work experience on wages in the United States over the past 40 years. After a huge spike in comparative earnings for degree holders in the 1980s, their wage advantage has flattened in the decades since, a trend some observers have attributed to improvements in information technology and the decline of “middle-skills jobs.”

Read the full article on high school and college jobs by Kevin Mahnken at The 74