A computer-assisted interview elicited responses from 110 high school and college students, revealing a common belief that the returns to a college education are positive, earnings rise between ages 30 and 40, and their own future earnings are uncertain. Respondents tended to overestimate the current degree of earnings inequality in the United…

A study focused on the disabled working age population tracked changes in their labor market performance. Found from the 1960s through the mid-1970s, disabled improved their performance in labor market; their real earnings improved absolutely and relatively. In last half of the 1970s their earnings fell rapidly, the retrenchment in disability…

The major finding of this study is that the rise in female labor force participation rates from 1956 to 1975 did not lower the overall level of experience. The widening gap between male and female earnings is attributed to the effects of discrimination and role differentiation. (SK)

Using National Longitudinal Survey data, the influence of personal characteristics, occupational choice, and discrimination on the occupational attainment of young men was investigated. Two conclusions were reached: (1) correcting for self-selection increases importance of occupational distribution in explaining racial wage differentials; and (2)…

Using data on 271 jobs, a study showed that both worker characteristics (education, months employed or unemployed) and job characteristics (skills, mental and physical demands, tools) are determinants of pay. Females tend to hold jobs of lower value to the organization, which explains part of the male-female pay differential. (SK)

Using a logit model of occupational attainment, researchers found that economically disadvantaged women who received nontraditional training were much less likely to be employed in male-dominated occupations and received lower hourly wages. Direct labor market discrimination seems to be responsible for the inhibited occupational attainment of…

A study of Israelis who attended vocational schools (9,788) and who attended general secondary schools (4,000) matched subject studied with current job and compared earnings. Vocational education proved more cost effective for non-college-bound students. Vocational students in jobs related to their schooling earned up to 10 percent more. (SK)