Insee Focus · March 2024 · n° 322

Student jobs in early 2020: four out of ten were waiters, cashiers or sales assistants

In early 2020, 26% of students living in France were working while studying. Most of these jobs were an integral part of the studies. However, at the beginning of 2020, 5% of students, being 146,000 young people, held a student job alongside their studies: they worked part-time, their job being neither an apprenticeship, nor a work placement nor a medical internship or externship, while continuing their studies as their main occupation. Four out of ten were waiters, cashiers or sales assistants. Graduates with Bachelor’s degree, women, students no longer living with their parents and those living in the centers of functional areas were more likely to combine their studies with a student job. Students living in Île-de-France or in some departments with major universities were much more likely to hold this type of job compared to those in overseas departments, Corsica or rural departments.