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Author: Missun, Ronald Edward
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1. Missun, Ronald Edward
Returns To Basic Skills For Young Adults In The United States
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB); Educational Attainment; Family Background and Culture; Head Start; Job Training; Tests and Testing; Variables, Independent - Covariate

The premise of this thesis is that early acquisition of basic skills may affect several variables which are often controls in wage regressions. Such variables include occupational status, the receipt of job training, and perhaps most importantly higher educational attainment. If this is the case, studies which simply include measures of skill as additional independent variables in wage regressions may report downward biased estimates on the returns to these skills. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), I have taken a sample of respondents who were currently enrolled in high school and under the age of 19 when they were administered the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) in 1980. The ASVAB contains four tests measuring basic skills in English and mathematics which are used to form composite English and math scores that are standardized and adjusted for age. These variables are used to predict future educational attainment and early labor market outcomes. Chapter 4 reports results from OLS and logistic regressions that establish the relationship between family background, early development of basic skills, and future education attainment. Employing regressions based on the first difference of sibling characteristics, omitted variable bias caused by strong correlation with unobserved family background characteristics is purged from the returns to basic skills. The results show the estimated returns to English and math proficiency decline dramatically when omitted variable bias is removed. However, both English and mathematics skills remain important determinants of college entrance rates among high school graduates. Labor market returns to basic skills are explored in chapter 5. In general, math proficiency is highly valued in the labor market for men and women. Since the early acquisition of basic skills leads to higher levels of educational attainment and basic skills appear to be important determinants of labor ma rket earnings for high school and college graduates, this study has policy implications for programs (such as Head Start) which promote the enhancement of fundamental English and math skills early in life.
Bibliography Citation
Missun, Ronald Edward. Returns To Basic Skills For Young Adults In The United States. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.