Job Mobility, Student Loans, and Gender

Individuals change jobs for a variety of reasons. According to the labor literature, job-to-job transitions can lead to higher compensation, increased job satisfaction, and skill development. For examples discussing the effects of job mobility on compensation, see Lopes de Melo (2015); Hakanson et al. (2015); Bagger and Lentz (2016); Law et al. (2016); Postel-Vinay and Robin (2002); Lise and Robin (2016); Bagger and Lentz (2016); Kantenga and Law (2016). See Alfonso Sousa-Poza & Andrés A. Sousa-Poza, “The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Labor Turnover by Gender: An Analysis for Switzerland,” 36 J. Socio-Economics 895–­913 (2007). This article studies how student debt might affect lawyers’ job mobility and career paths.