We examine effects of entering the labor market during a recession on subsequent employment and earnings for Japanese and American men, using comparable household labor force surveys. We find persistent negative effects of the unemployment rate at graduation for less-educated Japanese men, in contrast to temporary effects for less-educated…

Current estimates of the societal costs of alcoholism do not consider the impact of parental drinking on children. This paper analyzes the consequences of parental problem-drinking on children's labor market outcomes in adulthood. Using the NLSY79, I show that having a problem-drinking parent is associated with longer periods out of the labor…

Using NLSY data, we examine the long-term effects of youth unemployment on later labor market outcomes. Involuntary unemployment may yield suboptimal investments in human capital in the short run. A theoretical model of dynamic human capital investment predicts a rational "catch-up" response. Using semiparametric techniques to control for the…

Demographic differences in patterns of employment variation over the business cycle are examined. It is concluded that (1) both participation and unemployment must be considered in any analysis of cyclical changes in the labor market and (2) young people bear a disproportionate share of cyclical employment variation. (Author/CT)

This article presents an empirical analysis of self-reported reservation wages for unemployed young Black and White males. Results show that young Blacks seek wages that are comparable to those of young Whites in absolute terms but that are higher relative to what is available on the demand side of the market. (Author/CT)

Job searches by both the unemployed and employed jobseekers are studied through an empirical structural job search model using a choice variable of search intensity. The resulting influence of search intensity on the labor market transitions is analyzed to give the estimation results of the search and the impact of the benefit level on the search…

The author demonstrates that differences in the occupational, unemployment, and income data of black males relative to white males can be accounted for in large part in terms of relative discrimination. (EA)

The impact of minimum wage policy on the hiring of teenagers in relation to adult laborers in retail trade has been assessed through analysis of a study sample of 353 male and 391 female retail trade employees who were part of the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity. (LH)

Cautions that acceptance of a higher level of unemployment will seriously delay, or even eliminate, the prospect of black incomes reaching equality with white income levels. (BH)

Three recent untested theoretical models of the wage setting behavior of the unemployed jobseeker by Gronau, Mortensen, and McCall are compared. The investigation supports McCall's model which indicates downward flexibility in the minimum asking wage resulting from learning during search and unemployment. (Author/MW)

The 1969-1971 National Longitudinal Surveys data on young men were used to study the employed worker's choice among employed search, unemployed search, and not searching for a new job. The principal results are that current wages, seniority, collective bargaining coverage, employment outside construction, and employment by government are each…