Becker, Brian E., and Stephen M. Hills. 1980. "Teenage Unemployment: Some Evidence of the Long-Run Effects on Wages." Journal of Human Resources 15(3):354-372.

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.

The authors are, respectively, Assistant Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resources, State University of New York at Buffalo, and Assistant Professor of Labor and Human Resources, Ohio State University. The authors wish to thank William Sanders and Dennis Gray for their invaluable assistance in this research. We also thank Tom Daymont, Michael Borus, and an anonymous referee for their comments on an earlier draft. This report was prepared under a contract with the Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, under the authority of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act. Researchers undertaking such projects under government sponsorship are encouraged to express their own judgments. Interpretations or viewpoints stated in this article do not necessarily represent the official position or policy of the U.S. Department of Labor.

© 2003 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

US ISSN 0022-166X

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