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High school to work: How did Millennials fare?

Author

Listed:
  • Bowlus, Audra
  • Wong, Yuet-Yee Linda

Abstract

This paper studies Millennials’ school-to-work transition by race and gender based on flow-sampled data. We construct labor market histories upon entry for a sample of high school graduates, and estimate a wage posting equilibrium search model. We find the labor market deteriorated substantially for white male Millennials relative to those in Generation X resulting in the disappearance of racial differences. Further, Millennial males search less efficiently but receive higher mean wage offers than females pointing to a gender wage gap driven only by productivity differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Bowlus, Audra & Wong, Yuet-Yee Linda, 2024. "High school to work: How did Millennials fare?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:245:y:2024:i:c:s0165176524005287
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2024.112044
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Millennials; School-to-work transition; Job search; Gender; Race;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets

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