Are Public Sector Jobs Better for Ph.D. Students? The Association between Employment Sector and Doctoral Dropout and Graduation

A growing number of doctoral students work during their Ph.D., which is commonly associated with higher risks of dropout. This paper investigates whether the sector of employment (public or private) is also a predictor of student outcomes in Ph.D. programs. Using a dataset on doctorate students in Brazil, the association of employment with the likelihood of graduation and dropout is estimated using a logistic regression and an event history analysis. The results indicate that students employed exclusively in the public sector during the program are approximately 80% more likely to graduate than those working only for private organizations.