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Source: Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)
Resulting in 2 citations.
1. Gardecki, Rosella M.
Neumark, David B.
Early Labor Market Experiences and Their Consequences for Adult Labor Market Outcomes
Final Report to the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) A3-0076.0, September 1995
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
Keyword(s): Job Training; Labor Market Demographics; Labor Market Outcomes; Transition, School to Work; Wages, Youth

In this paper we seek to provide empirical evidence on the labor market experiences of youths, and their transitions to career jobs, in order to better inform this policy debate. We proceed in three steps. First. we describe numerous dimensions of youth labor market experiences, including training, wages, the stability of employment measured along a number of dimensions, the accumulation of tenure, and industry and occupation of employment. We ask questions such as "How much training does a worker receive in his or her first few years in the labor market, and how does this change over these first few years?," "How much community college does a person attend after leaving more traditional formal schooling?," and "How much tenure with an employer does a young worker tend to accumulate, and how does the distribution of tenure evolve in the first few years in the labor market?- Second, we document the intertemporal relationships among these various components of youth labor market experiences, to understand the consequences, if any, of a failure to settle into a steady job or steady employment, or a job involving training, in the first year or two after leaving school. An implicit criticism of the "chaotic" youth labor market would appear to be that the failure to find stable employment and jobs immediately after leaving school worsens the ability of young workers to find stable employment and jobs down the road. Finally, we explore the relationship between the entire gamut of youth labor market experiences and labor market outcomes of more mature adults. This is the question with which we should ultimately be concerned. There are many paths to "success" as an adult in the labor market, and we would like to know whether more "chaotic" experiences in the school-to-work transition are in fact associated with less success in the labor market in the long run. While there is a voluminous literature on youth labor markets and young workers, relatively little research has addressed the links between youth labor market experiences and the careers of adults, and, to the best of our knowledge, no research has attempted to take a comprehensive look at the relationships between numerous dimensions of the youth labor market experience and later careers. Thus, while our findings by no means address or settle all of the questions relevant to the transitions of youths to their adult labor market careers, they add a good deal of helpful information.
Bibliography Citation
Gardecki, Rosella M. and David B. Neumark. "Early Labor Market Experiences and Their Consequences for Adult Labor Market Outcomes." Final Report to the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) A3-0076.0, September 1995.
2. Office of Technology Assessment
Performance Standards for Secondary School Vocational Education
Background Paper, Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, Washington DC, April 1989
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
Keyword(s): Education; Education, Secondary; Educational Returns; Test Scores/Test theory/IRT; Tests and Testing; Training; Training, Occupational; Training, Off-the-Job; Vocational Training

This background paper analyzes the quality of vocational programs in terms of workplace requirements and occupational preparation of students. NLSY data is utilized to evidence that ASVAB scores are valid indicators of labor market success. Specifically, that for "men in the National Longitudinal Survey sample, there is a very substantial economic return to technical knowledge as measured by these subtests, largely because men with vocational education are likely to take jobs in the mechanical, blue collar, and manufacturing sectors in which employers value technical knowledge."
Bibliography Citation
Office of Technology Assessment. "Performance Standards for Secondary School Vocational Education." Background Paper, Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States, Washington DC, April 1989.