If Johnny Can't Work, Can Johnny Read Better?: Child Labor Laws, Labor Supply and Schooling Outcomes

Chanyoung Lee and Peter Orazem

Staff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The two most common state child labor restrictions are work permit requirements for teenagers and school dropout ages that are more stringent than federal requirements. If these laws are effectively targeted and enforced, children living in states legislating more stringent child labor laws should be less likely to work, should work fewer hours if they do work, and they should have better average schooling outcomes. Data show that stricter state laws do not lower significantly the likelihood that 14-15 year old youths work or the likelihood their hours exceed federal guidelines. Child labor laws do have small positive effects on academic outcomes. State work permit requirements modestly increase the likelihood of college entry while more stringent truancy laws increase marginally high school academic performance.

Keywords: dropout; child labor; legislation; GPA; college enrollment; truancy; work permit (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-06-18
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-lab
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http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/papers/p3886-2008-06-18.pdf (application/pdf)

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Working Paper: If Johnny can't work, can Johnny read better?: child labor laws, labor supply and schooling outcomes (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:12952

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