The Transition to Work for Canadian University Graduates: Time to First Job, 1982-1990

Using three waves (1982, 1986, 1990) of the National Graduate Survey (NGS) we analyze the time it takes graduates of Canadian universities to start a full time job that lasts six months or more. We analyze duration to first job using the Cox proportional hazards model. Our results suggest large differences in the speed of the transition to work both within and between cohorts. They also suggest that the differences in duration to first job across NGS cohorts are not just driven by differences in business cycle conditions at the time of graduation. Over certain segments of duration the patterns of job-starting are similar across cohorts. Within cohorts the differences in the school-to-work transition across certain demographic groups are small, and for some the differences remain stable across cohorts.