Teenage Unemployment: Some Evidence of the Long-Run Effects on Wages

Brian E. Becker and Stephen M. Hills

Journal of Human Resources, 1980, vol. 15, issue 3, 354-372

Abstract: While the issue of teenage unemployment has received a great deal of attention by policy-makers and the popular press, there is little systematic research on the long-run effects of this experience. This study attempts to address this question by examining the influence of teenage unemployment on subsequent wage rates. Using the young men's cohort of the National Longitudinal Surveys, we find that for the average out-of-school youth, teenage unemployment has little effect on the wages earned as a young adult eight years later. In general, the experience is a positive one for white and black youth, though more so for the former. While extended teen unemployment diminishes these benefits for both races, only black youth suffer a drop in subsequent wages. There is indirect evidence that government training programs offset part of the effect of long-term teenage unemployment.

Date: 1980
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:15:y:1980:i:3:p:354-372

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