Cognitive performance and labour market outcomes

Dajun Lin, Randall Lutter and Christopher Ruhm

Labour Economics, 2018, vol. 51, issue C, 121-135

Abstract: We use the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and other sources to examine how cognitive performance near the end of secondary schooling relates to labour market outcomes through age fifty. Our preferred estimates control for individual and family backgrounds, non-cognitive attributes, and survey years. We find that returns to cognitive skills rise with age. Although estimated gains in lifetime incomes are close to those reported earlier, our preferred estimates make multiple offsetting improvements. Returns to cognitive skill are greater for blacks and Hispanics than for non-Hispanic whites, both in relative and absolute terms, with gains in work hours being more important than in hourly wages.

Keywords: IQ; Cognitive skills; Work; Lifetime income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J08 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Cognitive Performance and Labour Market Outcomes (2016)
Working Paper: Cognitive Performance and Labor Market Outcomes (2016)
Working Paper: Cognitive Performance and Labor Market Outcomes (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:labeco:v:51:y:2018:i:c:p:121-135

DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2017.12.008

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