Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- I Introduction
- II Transitions and Global Change
- 3 Is Stable Employment Becoming More Elusive for Young Men?
- 4 Youth Outcomes in the Labour Markets of Advanced Economies: Decline, Deterioration, and Causes
- 5 Uncertain and Unable to Commit: A Fourteen-Country Comparison of the Impact of Globalization on the Early Life Course
- III Individual Decision Making
- IV Mapping Diversity and Change
- V Interventions and Policies
- Index
- References
3 - Is Stable Employment Becoming More Elusive for Young Men?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 December 2009
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- I Introduction
- II Transitions and Global Change
- 3 Is Stable Employment Becoming More Elusive for Young Men?
- 4 Youth Outcomes in the Labour Markets of Advanced Economies: Decline, Deterioration, and Causes
- 5 Uncertain and Unable to Commit: A Fourteen-Country Comparison of the Impact of Globalization on the Early Life Course
- III Individual Decision Making
- IV Mapping Diversity and Change
- V Interventions and Policies
- Index
- References
Summary
Stable employment is a key indicator of a man's successful transition from school to work. By their late twenties, men are expected to work on a regular basis. Erratic employment early in a man's labor-market career can permanently lower his lifetime earnings. Topel and Ward (1992) estimated that three quarters of men's lifetime wage growth occurs in their first ten years of work.
Scholars contend that in the United States, young men – particularly those with low levels of schooling and African American men – are increasingly becoming disconnected from employment (Besharov, 1999; Corcoran & Matsudaira, 2005; Devereux, 2003; Edelman, Holzer, & Offner, 2006; Freeman & Holzer, 1986; Handel, 2003; Holzer, Offner, & Sorenson, 2005; Juhn, 1992; Juhn & Potter, 2006; Mincy, 2006; Wilson, 1987, 1996). Edelman et al. (2006, p. 18) estimated that in 1999, “just over a third of young black male high school dropouts are employed.” Analysts are divided in their explanations for this phenomenon. Some researchers suggested that the changes are due to the development of new norms about the transition to adulthood that have encouraged young adults to be less seriously engaged in the labor market. In contrast, other researchers point to economic and structural factors that limit young adults' employment prospects.
In this chapter, we provide further documentation on the decline in stable employment among young men in the United States.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Transitions from School to WorkGlobalization, Individualization, and Patterns of Diversity, pp. 45 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
References
, , & (2003). Worker advancement in the low-wage labor market: The importance of “good jobs.”Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, Center for Urban and Metropolitan Policy.Google Scholar
, , & (2006). Moving up or moving on: Employment and job stability among less educated workers. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google ScholarPubMed
, & (2006). Temporary agency employment: A way out of poverty? In , , & (Eds.), Working and poor: How economic and policy changes are affecting low-wage workers (pp. 312–337). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
, , & (2002). Upstairs, downstairs: Computers and skills on two floors of a large bank. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 55, 432–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(Ed.) (1999). America's disconnected youth: Toward a preventive strategy. Washington, DC: CWLA Press.
(1998). Contingent work in a changing labor market. In & (Eds.), Generating jobs: How to increase demand for less-skilled workers (pp. 258–294). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
, & (1992). What went wrong? The erosion of black relative wage gains. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(1), 201–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1993). Industrial shifts, skill levels, and the labor market for white and black males. Review of Economics and Statistics, 75(3), 387–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1992). Changes in the structure of wages in the 1980's: An evaluation of alternative explanations. American Economic Review, 82(3), 371–392.Google ScholarPubMed
, & (2004). The important role of career and technical education: Implications for federal policy. College Park, MD: University of Maryland Welfare Reform Academy.Google Scholar
, & (2005). Is it getting harder to get ahead? In , , & (Eds.), On the frontier of adulthood: Theory, research and public policy (pp. 356–395). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Changes in male labor supply and wages. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 56(3), 409–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (2006). Reconnecting disadvantaged young men. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.Google Scholar
, , , , & (2006). The changing social contract at the transition to adulthood: Implications for individuals and the polity. Network on Transitions to Adulthood Research Network Working Paper.
, & (2000). Area economic conditions and the labor market outcomes of young men in the 1990s expansion. In & (Eds.), Prosperity for all? The economic boom and African Americans (pp. 50–87). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
, & (1998). Does child support enforcement policy affect male labor supply? In , , , & (Eds.), Fathers under fire (pp. 94–127). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
, & (2001). Dunning delinquent dads. Journal of Human Resources, 36(2), 207–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1998). Market wages and youth crime. Journal of Labor Economics, 16(4), 756–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Skills mismatch in the labor market. Annual Review of Sociology, 29, 135–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Jean Valjean's dilemma: The management of ex-convict identity in the search for employment. Deviant Behavior, 24(6), 571–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2004). Does firm size matter anymore? The new economy and firm size wage effects. American Sociological Review, 69(5), 659–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (2005). Declining employment among young black less-educated men: The role of incarceration and child support. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 24(2), 329–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (2006). Will employers hire former offenders? In , , & (Eds.), Imprisoning America: The social effects of mass incarceration (pp. 205–246). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
(1992). The decline in male labor force participation: The role of declining market opportunities. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107, 79–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). Labor market dropouts and trends in the wages of black and white men. Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 56(4), 643–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (1997). Wage inequality and the rise in returns to skill. Journal of Political Economy, 101(3), 410–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (2006). Changes in labor force participation in the United States. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(3), 27–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1992). Changes in relative wages, 1963–1978: Supply and demand factors. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107, 35–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1992). U.S. Earnings levels and earnings inequality: A review of recent trends and proposed explanations. Journal of Economic Literature, 30(3), 1333–1381.Google Scholar
, & (1998). Changing U.S. immigration law and the occupational selectivity of Asian immigrants. International Migration Review, 32, 737–760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, & (1999). Inequality in earnings at the close of the twentieth century. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 623–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2003). The mark of a criminal record. American Journal of Sociology, 108(5), 937–975.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , & (Eds.) (2006). Imprisoning America: The social effects of mass incarceration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
(1998). Job-to-job and job-to-non-employment turnover by gender and education level. Journal of Labor Economics, 16(2), 392–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, & (1992). Job mobility and the careers of young men. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 439–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1987). The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
- 7
- Cited by