Employment is foundational to young people's successful transition into adulthood, yet many youth with lived experience in the foster care system struggle to obtain employment that provides a living wage. Youth with foster care experience typically do not have the same contacts and connections to employment opportunities as youth who have not been…

In this issue brief, the authors explore how former foster youth in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa are faring in the labor market and what explains the variability in employment outcomes for these youth. First, they describe trends in former foster youths' employment from age 17 to 24. Then, they consider how former foster youths' characteristics…

The article reviews recent research examining the impact of minimum wage requirements on the size and distribution of teenage employment and earnings. The studies measure income distribution, employment levels and effect on unemployment. (MW)

For the average out-of-school youth, teenage unemployment has little effect on the wages earned as an adult. There is indirect evidence that government training programs offset part of the effect of long-term teenage unemployment. (JOW)

Using a specially constructed panel data set on state minimum wage laws and labor market conditions, Neumark and Wascher (1992) presented evidence that countered the claim that minimum wages could be raised with no cost to employment. They concluded that estimates indicating that minimum wages reduced employment on the order of 1-2 percent for a…

The desirability of raising the minimum wage long revolved around just one question: the effect of higher minimum wages on the overall level of employment. An even more critical effect of the minimum wage rests on the composition of employment--who gets the minimum wage job. An examination of employment in eating and drinking establishments…

A study described the effects of minimum wages on teenagers by using individual-level panel data on school and work transitions of teenagers. Panel data from 1979-92 measuring transitions among alternative employment and enrollment activities of teenagers were obtained from matched Current Population Surveys data sets. Findings indicated that…

A study used individual-level data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth to examine the effects of changes in the federal minimum wage on teenage employment. Individuals in the sample were classified as either likely or unlikely to be affected by these increases in the federal minimum wage on the basis of their wage rates and industry of…

This Congressional report contains the testimony given at a hearing pertaining to passage of the Youth Employment Opportunity Wage Act of 1985. (The act, which would terminate in September 1987, would authorize an employer to pay a subminimum, "youth employment opportunity wage" to a person under 20 years of age.) Included among those…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the long-term earnings and employment outcomes of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs. Data from the National JTPA Study and annual earnings records from the Social Security Administration were used to calculate the average earnings and employment rates of four target groups (adult men, adult…

(1) Estimates of the "typical" industrial distribution of fluctuations in total U.S. Employment about long run trends are provided with evidence of secular drift that results in employment becoming less sensitive to changes in G.N.P. (2) A Model is presented to analyze the effects of minimum wage legislation with uneven industrial coverage on the…

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)

Federal policy toward youth is divided between those encouraging employment and child labor laws which govern employment of those from 14-17. This study deals with quantification of the impacts of child labor laws by using Census data to identify shifting employment toward occupations not covered by these laws. (Author/JOW)

Analysis of data from the New Youth Cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey yields evidence that young unemployed job seekers chose higher levels of search effort (used more job search methods and spent more time) and lower reservation wages than did comparable employed job seekers in 1981. (Author/CH)

Canadian panel data 1988-90 were used to compare estimates of minimum-wage effects based on a low-wage/high-worker sample and a low-wage-only sample. Minimum-wage effect for the latter is nearly zero. Different results for low-wage subgroups suggest a significant effect for those with longer low-wage histories. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)