A study examined evidence of any labor market payoff for school dropouts and if they acquire cognitive skills, and studied whether the payoff differs by gender and race/ethnicity. It analyzed data containing information on the universe of school dropouts in New York and Florida who took the General Educational Development (GED) exams between 1986-90 and were aged 16-21 when they last took those exams. The data--basic demographic information and GED test scores--were merged with Social Security taxable annual earnings via Social Security Numbers. Labor market earnings were measured 5 years after dropouts last attempted the GED exams. Results, based on earnings of 21-26 year-old dropouts who attempted the GED exams in Florida and New York in 1986-90, showed the average annual earnings levels of young dropouts were quite low; in the labor market of the early 1990s, young high school dropouts could expect higher annual earnings if they had higher levels of basic cognitive skills; and females and minority group members had greater returns. The significant economic return to modest skill differences among minority male dropouts shed light on a puzzle in the random-assignment evaluation of the Perry Pre-School Program. (YLB)