A major factor in determining the positive or negative effects of employment on the
academic performance of students is their GPA. One would intuitively conclude that, because time and energy are finite resources, jobs would detract from studying and be
harmful to a student’s GPA. Most studies conclude that this is only the case when the
student’s number of hours worked per week exceeds 20 hours. In fact, students who
work fewer than 1520 hours often report higher GPAs than those who do not work
at all (Dundes). The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is run by
the U.S. Department of Education, found that students working 115 hours weekly
have a significantly higher GPA than both students working 16 or more hours and
students who don’t work at all. The NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting
and analyzing data related to education.