Volume 35, Number 4 (Fall) 2000
Tyler, John H., Richard J. Murnane, and John B. Willett. 2000. "Do the Cognitive Skills of School Dropouts Matter in the Labor Market?" Journal of Human Resources 35(4):748-754.
Does the labor market reward cognitive skill differences among those with the fewest educational attainment - high school dropouts? This paper explores this question using a data set that provides information on the universe of dropouts who last attempted the GED exams in Florida and New York in 1989 and 1990. This sample reduces variation in unmeasured variables such as motivation that are correlated with cognitive skills. We examine the returns to basic cognitive skills as measured by GED test scores. The results indicate substantial earnings returns to cognitive skills for all groups except white male dropouts.
John Tyler is an assistant professor of education, economics and public policy at Brown University. Richard Murnane and John Willett are professors of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) and the Rockefeller, Russell Sage, and Spencer Foundations. Work supported by NCSALL was supported under the Educational Research and Development Centers Program, Award Number R309B60002, as administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement/National Institute on Postsecondary Education, Libraries, and Lifelong Learning, U.S. Department of Education. The contents do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the National Research and Improvement, or the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal Government. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning May 2001 through April 2004 from John Tyler at brown University.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X