Equity group participation in cooperative programs

Women, graduates with disabilities, and aboriginal graduates participated to a lesser degree in cooperative programs than did men, non-disabled, and non-aboriginal graduates. Female and disabled cooperative program graduates had higher levels of full-time employment and lower part-time and unemployment levels. Both male and female university graduates of cooperative programs had higher median earnings than nonparticipants in these programs. At the college level, female graduates of cooperative programs did not report higher median earnings than nonparticipating graduates. However, for all groups at the university and college levels, males had higher median earnings then females.

Conclusions

Two education variables are key predictors of the success of the transition process: type of qualification and field of study. Generally, the more advanced the qualification the better the transition outcome, and graduates from the more applied disciplines had a distinct advantage in the transition process. The majority of graduates did obtain full-time employment, although finding a job was the most difficult for trade or vocational school graduates. Those who obtained work found that the jobs were unrelated to their education or required less education than their qualifications. Job satisfaction was highest when job entry requirements and education credentials were closely related. Satisfaction with the job was related to the type of qualification; graduates at the master's or doctorate level reported the highest degree of job satisfaction.

The relation between type of qualification, field of study, and labour market outcome, as reported above, was attenuated by membership in an equity group. Women, aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities, and members of visible minorities were disadvantaged compared with their counterparts and, among disabled and aboriginal graduates, women were doubly disadvantaged. Cooperative education appeared to improve the chances of a successful transition. The relation between educational credentials and labour market outcomes is not a pure one (i.e., it does not hold under all conditions). Other intervening variables enter into the equation forcing us to conclude that qualities unrelated to education contribute to the transition outcome. Human capital is only one factor, albeit an extremely important one, in predicting the success of the transition.