Helping young people prepare to engage in work and life as productive adults is a central challenge for any society. Yet, many young people in the United States find that the path from education to employment and economic security in adulthood is poorly marked or inaccessible. As a result, those from low-income and less educated families have…

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 show substantial work activity among 14- and 15-year-olds. From age 14 to 15, youths appear to shift more toward working in employee jobs and less in freelance jobs such as babysitting or yard work. Girls were more likely than boys to be working in freelance jobs, and whites were more likely…

Work experience at an early age has a positive impact on labor force attachment of different racial groups. However, racial gaps in employment that are present in the early teen years seem to continue into adulthood. (Author/SK)

Most workers who begin their careers in minimum-wage jobs eventually gain more experience and move on to higher paying jobs. However, more than 8% of workers spend at least half of their first 10 working years in minimum wage jobs. Those more likely to have minimum wage careers are less educated, minorities, women with young children, and those…

About half of 12- and 13-year-olds surveyed engage in some sort of work. Such work is more likely among youths from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and better school performance or among those who have engaged in risky behaviors or have been suspended from school. (SK)

Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NYSY) for 1979-92, an empirical analysis documented and characterized early labor market experiences of men and women in the U.S. economy. It explored the evolution of these labor market experiences over the first 5 years in the labor market and studied the relationships between them and adult labor…

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that the likelihood of permanently leaving Aid to Families with Dependent Children decreased with the length of time that women received benefits, and was also affected by marital status, number of children, educational attainment, job-related skills, employment experience, and the…

A study used data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to analyze the long-term effects of hospitality industry employment on youth. The subsample extracted for the study included all youth who were aged 16-24 in 1980 and employed in the civilian sector for pay at any time in the year. Statistics indicated the hospitality sector was…

This paper analyzes labor market behaviors of young adults, their changing patterns among two cohorts that are twenty years apart, and their associations with transitions to adulthood as measured by living with parents, being married, or cohabiting. We analyze these issues using data from the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of he National Longitudinal…

The 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) provided data on the employment experience and other characteristics of a nationally representative sample of 9,022 young men and women who were between 12 and 16 years old on December 31, 1996. The NLSY focused on four aspects of youth's lives: overall employment; employment while in school;…

This report focuses on the education and work experiences of rural youth during the emerging adult years (age 20 to 24), as they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood. It documents how rural emerging adults combine work and school and experience idleness, closely examines their educational attainment, and compares their experiences…