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Author: Ruhm, Christopher J.
Resulting in 21 citations.
1. Baum, Charles L., II
Ruhm, Christopher J.
Age, Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Growth
Journal of Health Economics 28,3 (May 2009): 635-648.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629609000095
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Age and Ageing; Childhood; Ethnic Studies; Family Characteristics; Family Income; Health Factors; Household Composition; Life Cycle Research; Obesity; Racial Studies; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Weight

We use panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to examine how body weight changes with age for a cohort moving through early adulthood, to investigate how the age-obesity gradient differs with socioeconomic status (SES) and to study channels for these SES disparities. Our results show first that weight increases with age and is inversely related to SES during childhood. Second, the obesity gradient widens over the lifecycle, consistent with research on other health outcomes. Third, a substantial portion of the "effect" of early life conditions operates through race/ethnicity and the translation of advantaged family backgrounds during childhood into higher levels of subsequent education. By contrast, little of the SES gap appears to propagate through household composition, family income or health behaviors. Fourth, adult SES has independent effects after controlling for childhood status.

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Bibliography Citation
Baum, Charles L., II and Christopher J. Ruhm. "Age, Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Growth." Journal of Health Economics 28,3 (May 2009): 635-648.
2. Baum, Charles L., II
Ruhm, Christopher J.
Age, Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Growth
NBER Working Paper No. 13289, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2007
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Age and Ageing; Ethnic Differences; Family Background and Culture; Health Factors; Intergenerational Patterns/Transmission; Life Cycle Research; Obesity; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Status (SES); Weight

The rapid growth in obesity represents a major public concern. Although body weight tends to increase with age, the evolution of obesity over the lifecycle is not well understood. We use longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine how body weight changes with age for a cohort moving through early adulthood. We further investigate how the age-obesity gradient differs with socioeconomic status (SES) and begin to examine channels for these SES disparities. Our analysis uncovers three main findings. First, weight rises with age but is inversely related to SES at given ages. Second, the SES-obesity gradient widens over the lifecycle, a result consistent with research examining other health outcomes such as overall status or specific medical conditions. Third, a substantial portion of the SES "effect" is transmitted through race/ethnicity and the translation of advantaged family backgrounds during childhood into high levels of subsequent education. Conversely, little of the SES difference appears to be propagated through family income, marital status, number of children, or the set of health behaviors we control for. However, approximately half of the SES-weight correlation persists after the inclusion of controls, illustrating the need for further study of mechanisms for the gradient
Bibliography Citation
Baum, Charles L., II and Christopher J. Ruhm. "Age, Socioeconomic Status and Obesity Growth." NBER Working Paper No. 13289, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2007.
3. Baum, Charles L., II
Ruhm, Christopher J.
The Changing Benefits of Early Work Experience
NBER Working Paper No. 20413, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2014.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w20413
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Employment, In-School; Employment, Part-Time; Employment, Youth; High School Employment; Minimum Wage; Occupational Attainment; Wages, Youth; Work Experience

We examine whether the benefits of high school work experience have changed over the last 20 years by comparing effects for the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our main specifications suggest that the future wage benefits of working 20 hours per week in the senior year of high school have fallen from 8.3 percent for the earlier cohort, measured in 1987-1989, to 4.4 percent for the later one, in 2008-2010. Moreover, the gains of work are largely restricted to women and have diminished over time for them. We are able to explain about five-eighths of the differential between cohorts, with most of this being attributed to the way that high school employment is related to subsequent adult work experience and occupational attainment.
Bibliography Citation
Baum, Charles L., II and Christopher J. Ruhm. "The Changing Benefits of Early Work Experience." NBER Working Paper No. 20413, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2014.
4. Baum, Charles L., II
Ruhm, Christopher J.
The Changing Benefits of Early Work Experience
Southern Economic Journal 83,2 (October 2016): 343-363.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/soej.12157/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Earnings; Employment, In-School; High School Students; Occupational Attainment

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

We examine whether the benefits of high school work experience have changed over the last 20 years by comparing effects for the 1979 and 1997 cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our main specifications suggest that the future annual earnings benefits of working 20 h per week in the senior year of high school have fallen from 17.4% for the earlier cohort, measured in 1987-1989, to 12.1% for the later cohort, in 2008-2010. The gains have diminished by similar amounts for men and women but much more substantially for those who do not later attend college than for those who do. We further show that most of the differential between cohorts can be attributed to the way that high school employment is related to subsequent adult work experience and occupational attainment.
Bibliography Citation
Baum, Charles L., II and Christopher J. Ruhm. "The Changing Benefits of Early Work Experience." Southern Economic Journal 83,2 (October 2016): 343-363.
5. Baum, Charles L., II
Ruhm, Christopher J.
The Effects of Paid Family Leave in California on Labor Market Outcomes
NBER Working Paper No. 19741, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2013.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w19741
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); Fathers; Labor Market Outcomes; Leave, Family or Maternity/Paternity; Mothers; Wages; Work Hours/Schedule; Work Reentry

Using data from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97), we examine the effects of California’s first in the nation government-mandated paid family leave program (CA-PFL) on mothers’ and fathers’ use of leave during the period surrounding child birth, and on the timing of mothers’ return to work, the probability of eventually returning to pre-childbirth jobs, and subsequent labor market outcomes. Our results show that CA-PFL raised leave-taking by around 2.4 weeks for the average mother and just under one week for the average father. The timing of the increased leave use – immediately after birth for men and around the time that temporary disability insurance benefits are exhausted for women – is consistent with causal effects of CA-PFL. Rights to paid leave are also associated with higher work and employment probabilities for mothers nine to twelve months after birth, possibly because they increase job continuity among those with relatively weak labor force attachments. We also find positive effects of California’s program on hours and weeks of work during their child’s second year of life and possibly also on wages.
Bibliography Citation
Baum, Charles L., II and Christopher J. Ruhm. "The Effects of Paid Family Leave in California on Labor Market Outcomes." NBER Working Paper No. 19741, National Bureau of Economic Research, December 2013.
6. Baum, Charles L., II
Ruhm, Christopher J.
The Effects of Paid Family Leave in California on Labor Market Outcomes
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35,2 (Spring 2016): 333-356.
Also: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.21894/abstract
Cohort(s): NLSY97
Publisher: Wiley Online
Keyword(s): Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); Geocoded Data; Labor Market Outcomes; Leave, Family or Maternity/Paternity; Maternal Employment; State-Level Data/Policy

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Using data from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY-97), we examine the effects of California's paid family leave program (CA-PFL) on mothers' and fathers' use of leave during the period surrounding child birth, and on the timing of mothers' return to work, the probability of eventually returning to prechildbirth jobs, and subsequent labor market outcomes. We estimate multivariate difference-in-differences regression models that compare changes in the outcomes for new California parents before and after the enactment of CA-PFL to those for corresponding parents in control states. Our results suggest that CA-PFL raised leave use by almost five weeks for the average covered mother and two to three days for the corresponding father. Maternal leave-taking appears to increase in the quarter before the birth and to extend through the two quarters after it. Paternal leave-taking rises fairly quickly after the birth and is short-lasting. Rights to paid leave are also associated with higher work and employment probabilities for mothers nine to 12 months after birth, probably because they increase job continuity among those with relatively weak labor force attachments. We also find positive effects of California's program on hours and weeks of work during their child's second year of life.
Bibliography Citation
Baum, Charles L., II and Christopher J. Ruhm. "The Effects of Paid Family Leave in California on Labor Market Outcomes." Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 35,2 (Spring 2016): 333-356.
7. Lin, Dajun
Lutter, Randall
Ruhm, Christopher J.
Cognitive Performance and Labor Market Outcomes
NBER Working Paper No. 22470, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2016.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w22470
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Cognitive Ability; Earnings; Ethnic Differences; Gender Differences; Labor Market Outcomes; Racial Differences

We use information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and supplementary data sources to examine how cognitive performance, measured at approximately the end of secondary schooling, is related to the labor market outcomes of 20 through 50 year olds. Our estimates control for a wide array of individual and family background characteristics, a limited set of non-cognitive attributes, survey year dummy variables and, sometimes, geographic place effects. The analysis reveals five main findings. First, cognitive performance is positively associated with future labor market outcomes at all ages. The relationship is attenuated but not eliminated by the addition of controls for non-cognitive characteristics, while the inclusion of place effects does not change the estimated associations. Second, the returns to cognitive skill increase with age. Third, the effect on total incomes reflects a combination of positive impacts of cognitive performance for both hourly wages and annual work hours. Fourth, the returns to cognitive skill are greater for women than men and for blacks and Hispanics than for non-Hispanic whites, with differential effects on work hours being more important than corresponding changes in hourly wages. Fifth, the average gains in lifetime incomes predicted to result from greater levels of cognitive performance are only slightly above those reported in prior studies but the effects are heterogeneous, with larger relative and absolute increases, in most models, for nonwhites or Hispanics than for non-Hispanic whites, and higher relative but not absolute returns for women than men.
Bibliography Citation
Lin, Dajun, Randall Lutter and Christopher J. Ruhm. "Cognitive Performance and Labor Market Outcomes." NBER Working Paper No. 22470, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2016.
8. Lin, Dajun
Lutter, Randall
Ruhm, Christopher J.
Cognitive Performance and Labour Market Outcomes
Labour Economics 51 (April 2018): 121-135.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537117303329
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Armed Forces Qualifications Test (AFQT); Cognitive Ability; Earnings; Ethnic Differences; Income; Labor Market Outcomes; Racial Differences

We use the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and other sources to examine how cognitive performance near the end of secondary schooling relates to labour market outcomes through age fifty. Our preferred estimates control for individual and family backgrounds, non-cognitive attributes, and survey years. We find that returns to cognitive skills rise with age. Although estimated gains in lifetime incomes are close to those reported earlier, our preferred estimates make multiple offsetting improvements. Returns to cognitive skill are greater for blacks and Hispanics than for non-Hispanic whites, both in relative and absolute terms, with gains in work hours being more important than in hourly wages.
Bibliography Citation
Lin, Dajun, Randall Lutter and Christopher J. Ruhm. "Cognitive Performance and Labour Market Outcomes." Labour Economics 51 (April 2018): 121-135.
9. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Effects of High School Work Experience on Future Economic Attainment
Washington DC: Employment Policies Institute, May 1994
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Employment Policies Institute
Keyword(s): Employment, Part-Time; Employment, Youth; High School Students; Training, Post-School; Vocational Education; Wages, Youth

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

A study used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to track the earnings histories of high school students over a period of 12 years, starting in either their freshman or sophomore year of high school. Contrary to some previous research, the analysis failed to uncover any evidence of harmful effects of working during high school. Instead, jobs held during the senior year yielded substantial and lasting benefits. Moderate work (1-20 hours per week) had a strong positive influence on adult earnings. Those who showed no work activity as seniors had average earnings of about $16,000 a year, rising to over $20,300 for those working 1-10 hours a week. This was slightly above the annual earnings of those reported having worked either 11-20 hours a week (annual earnings almost $19,600) or more than 20 hours a week (barely $20,300). This pattern of adult earnings persisted if the data were disaggregated. For males as a group, adult earnings rose from about $18,600 for those reporting no work to just over $24,000 for those who reported working 1-10 hours a week. Earnings for adult women peaked at 11-20 hours of work as a senior compared to 1-10 hours for males. For whites as a group, earnings rose consistently with hours worked in school. (Contains 33 references.) (YLB)
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. Effects of High School Work Experience on Future Economic Attainment. Washington DC: Employment Policies Institute, May 1994.
10. Ruhm, Christopher J.
High School Employment: Consumption or Investment
NLS Discussion Paper No. 94-19, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,Washington DC, November 1994.
Also: http://stats.bls.gov/ore/abstract/nl/nl940040.htm
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: U.S. Department of Labor
Keyword(s): Educational Attainment; Employment, In-School; Employment, Youth; High School; Racial Differences; Wage Gap; Work Experience

Early work experience could also speed the process by which youths obtain positions where there is a good match between job requirements and worker qualifications. It is important to better understand the effects of high school work experience. Rates of employment by in-school youths are at historically high levels. If this job-holding has the negative effects sometimes attributed to it and, in particular, if it reduces educational attainment and academic performance, the increased work propensities could explain a portion of the wage stagnation observed over the last two decades, especially among young workers without college educations. Conversely, if early labor market experience has favorable impacts on future economic outcomes, the relatively low employment rates of nonwhite youths could contribute to racial earnings gaps observed later in life.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "High School Employment: Consumption or Investment." NLS Discussion Paper No. 94-19, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,Washington DC, November 1994.
11. Ruhm, Christopher J.
How Well Do Parents With Young Children Combine Work and Family Life?
NBER Working Paper No. 10247, National Bureau of Economic Research, January 2004.
Also: http://papers.nber.org/papers/w10247.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Child Care; Maternal Employment; Work History

This study examines trends in labor force involvement, household structure, and some activities that may complicate the efforts of parents with young children to balance work and family life. Next I consider whether employer policies mitigate or exacerbate these difficulties and, since the policies adopted in the United States diverge dramatically from those in many other industrialized countries, provide some international comparisons before speculating on possible sources and effects of the differences.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "How Well Do Parents With Young Children Combine Work and Family Life?." NBER Working Paper No. 10247, National Bureau of Economic Research, January 2004.
12. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?
NBER Working Paper No. 5030, National Bureau of Economic Research, February 1995.
Also: http://nber.nber.org/papers/W5030
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Benefits, Fringe; Educational Attainment; Employment, In-School; High School; Job Satisfaction; Occupational Attainment

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study examines whether employment by high school students improves or worsens economic attainment 6 to 9 years after the scheduled date of high school graduation. There is no indication that light to moderate job commitments ever have a detrimental impact and hours worked during the senior grade are positively correlated with future earnings, fringe benefits, and occupational status. These results are robust across a variety of specifications and suggest that employment increases net investments in human capital and facilitates the school- to-work transition, particularly towards the end of high school and for students not continuing on to college. Full-text available on-line: http://nber.nber.org/papers/W5030
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?" NBER Working Paper No. 5030, National Bureau of Economic Research, February 1995.
13. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?
Journal of Labor Economics 15,4 (October 1997): 735-776.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/209844
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Keyword(s): Education, Secondary; Employment, In-School; Employment, Part-Time; Employment, Youth; High School

This study examines how high school employment affects future economic attainment. There is no indication that light to moderate job commitments ever have a detrimental effect; instead, hours worked during the senior grade are positively correlated with future earnings, fringe benefits, and occupational stems. These gains occur even though employed seniors attain slightly less education than their counterparts. The results are robust across a variety of specifications and suggest that student employment increases net investments in human capital particularly toward the end of high school and for females. The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Is High School Employment Consumption or Investment?" Journal of Labor Economics 15,4 (October 1997): 735-776.
14. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development
NBER Working Paper No. 10691, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2004.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10691
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use; Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavior, Antisocial; Behavioral Problems; Body Mass Index (BMI); Child Health; Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS); Obesity; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Smoking (see Cigarette Use); Substance Use; Weight

This study investigates how maternal employment is related to the outcomes of 10 and 11 year olds after controlling for a wide variety of child, mother and family background characteristics. The results suggest that the mother's labor supply has deleterious effects on cognitive development, obesity and possibly risky behaviors such as smoking or drinking, while reducing behavior problems. These negative consequences are quite small for the average child, however, and usually restricted to relatively long maternal work hours. Less intensive employment is often associated with favorable outcomes and labor supply after the first three years typically has little effect. By contrast, large adverse consequences are frequently obtained for "advantaged" adolescents, with negative impacts predicted even for limited amounts of maternal labor supply and for work during the child's fourth through ninth year.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development." NBER Working Paper No. 10691, National Bureau of Economic Research, August 2004.
15. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development
Presented: Wellington, New Zealand, Workshop on Labour Force Participation and Economic Growth, April 2005.
Also: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/lfpw/papers/lfpw-ruhm.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: New Zealand, The Treasury
Keyword(s): Behavior Problems Index (BPI); Behavioral Problems; Maternal Employment; Obesity; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Substance Use; Weight

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

This paper analyses how maternal employment affects the development of 10 and 11 year olds using data from multiple years of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The dependent variables include three high quality assessments of cognitive skill, two indicators of socioemotional development and two measures of excess body weight. The results suggest sharply disparate impacts across categories of youths. Moderate amounts of work by mothers have no effect or benefit children who are "disadvantaged" based on race/ethnicity, low maternal education, absence of a male adult in the household at birth or using a multivariate index of low socioeconomic status (SES) described below. Even long employment hours, which occur relatively rarely, are unlikely to leave them much worse off than if their mothers did not engage in market work. By contrast, harmful consequences are predicted for "advantaged" adolescents, with negative effects extending to even limited employment. Particularly striking are the reductions in cognitive test scores and increases in excess body weight anticipated for high SES youths whose mothers work. There is also evidence of relatively large (in percentage terms) increases in early substance use and small reductions in behaviour problems; however, these are never statistically significant.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development." Presented: Wellington, New Zealand, Workshop on Labour Force Participation and Economic Growth, April 2005.
16. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development
IZA Discussion Paper No. 1673, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), July 2005.
Also: http://www.uncg.edu/eco/cjruhm/papers/maternal.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Keyword(s): Cognitive Development; Family Characteristics; Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME); Maternal Employment; Obesity; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Socioeconomic Status (SES); Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

[Revised March 2006.]
This study investigates how maternal employment is related to the outcomes of 10 and 11 year olds, controlling for a wide variety of child, mother and family characteristics. The results suggest that limited amounts of work by mothers benefit youths who are relatively "disadvantaged" and even long hours, which occur relatively rarely, are unlikely to leave them much worse off. By contrast, maternal labor supply is estimated to have much more harmful effects on "advantaged" adolescents. Particularly striking are the reductions in cognitive test scores and increases in excess body weight predicted by even moderate amounts of employment. The negative cognitive effects occur partly because maternal labor supply reduces the time these children spend in enriching home environments. Some of the growth in obesity may be related to determinants of excess weight that are common to the child and mother. Work hours are also associated with relatively large (in percentage terms) increases in early substance use and small decreases in behavior problems; however, neither are statistically significant.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Maternal Employment and Adolescent Development." IZA Discussion Paper No. 1673, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), July 2005.
17. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development
NBER Working Paper No. W7666 (April), Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2000, Revised, September 2002.
Also: http://www.nber.org/papers/w7666.pdf?new_window=1
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Keyword(s): Cognitive Development; Employment; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Education; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Work Hours/Schedule

This study investigates the relationship between parental employment and child cognitive development using data from multiple years of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Maternal labor supply during the first three years of the child's life is predicted to have a small negative effect on the verbal ability of 3 and 4 year olds and a substantial detrimental impact on the reading and math achievement of 5 and 6 year olds. Working during the second and third years appears to have less favorable or more deleterious consequences when the mother is also employed in the first year. The results are robust to the inclusion of controls for day care arrangements or paternal job-holding and there is some indication that early employment may be particularly costly for children in traditional' two-parent families. Finally, the data suggest that paternal and maternal employment have qualitatively similar effects, hinting at the importance of time investments by fathers. The overall conclusion is that previous research may have provided an overly optimistic assessment of the effects of parental employment on child cognitive development.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development." NBER Working Paper No. W7666 (April), Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2000, Revised, September 2002.
18. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development
Working Paper, Greensboro, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, May 2002.
Also: http://depts.washington.edu/crfam/Symposium1/Ruhm.pdf
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Keyword(s): Cognitive Development; Employment; Maternal Employment; Mothers, Education; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Work Hours/Schedule

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Revised version of NBER Working Paper W7666, April 2000 (http://papers.nber.org/papers/w7666). This study investigates the relationship between parental employment and child cognitive development using data from multiple years of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Maternal labor supply during the first three years of the child's life is predicted to have a small negative effect on the verbal ability of 3 and 4 year olds and a substantial detrimental impact on the reading and math achievement of 5 and 6 year olds. Working during the second and third years appears to have less favorable or more deleterious consequences when the mother is also employed in the first year. The results are robust to the inclusion of controls for day care arrangements or paternal job-holding and there is some indication that early employment may be particularly costly for children in traditional' two-parent families. Finally, the data suggest that paternal and maternal employment have qualitatively similar effects, hinting at the importance of time investments by fathers. The overall conclusion is that previous research may have provided an overly optimistic assessment of the effects of parental employment on child cognitive development.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development." Working Paper, Greensboro, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, May 2002.
19. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development
Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, September 2002.
Also: http://www.uncg.edu/bae/people/ruhm/
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79
Publisher: Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Keyword(s): Cognitive Development; Fathers, Involvement; Maternal Employment; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Math); Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading); Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT); Test Scores/Test theory/IRT

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Revised version of May working paper. This study investigates how parental employment affects child cognitive development. The results suggest that maternal labor supply during the first three years of the child's life has a small deleterious effect on the predicted verbal ability of 3 and 4 year olds and a larger detrimental impact on the reading and mathematics achievement of 5 and 6 year olds -- working an extra 20 hours per week is associated with test score reductions from the median to the 49th, 46th, and 47th percentiles respectively. The negative relationship between cognitive performance and maternal job-holding during the second and third years is particularly strong if the mother works long hours or was also employed in the child's first year. These findings are robust to the inclusion of controls for day care arrangements or paternal employment. There is some indication that early work may be especially costly for children in 'traditional' two-parent families and the data hint at the importance of time investments by fathers. There are two main reasons why this study provides a more pessimistic assessment of the impact of early employment than most prior research. First, previous analyses often control relatively crudely for differences in child and household characteristics that are correlated with parental labor supply. Second, the negative relationships are more pronounced for the reading and mathematics performance of 5 and 6 year old children than for the verbal test scores of 3 and 4 year olds that have more frequently been examined.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development." Working Paper, Department of Economics, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, September 2002.
20. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development
Journal of Human Resources 39,1 (Winter 2004): 155-192.
Also: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3559009
Cohort(s): Children of the NLSY79, NLSY79
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Keyword(s): Bias Decomposition; Child Development; Children, Academic Development; Maternal Employment; Motherhood; Parental Influences; Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT- Reading)

Maternal employment during the first three years of the child's life has a small deleterious effect on estimated verbal ability of three- and four-year-olds and a larger negative impact on reading and mathematics achievement of five- and six-year-olds. This study provides a more pessimistic assessment than most prior research for two reasons. First, previous analyses often control crudely for differences in child and household characteristics. Second, the negative relationships are more pronounced for the reading and mathematics performance of five- and six-year-old children than for the verbal scores of three- and four-year-olds.
Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. "Parental Employment and Child Cognitive Development." Journal of Human Resources 39,1 (Winter 2004): 155-192.
21. Ruhm, Christopher J.
Baum, Charles L., II
The Lasting Benefits of Early Work Experience
Policy Report, Washington DC: Employment Policies Institute, August 2014.
Also: https://www.epionline.org/study/the-lasting-benefits-of-early-work-experience/
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Employment Policies Institute
Keyword(s): Employment, In-School; Employment, Part-Time; Employment, Youth; High School Employment; Minimum Wage; Occupational Attainment; Work Experience

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The US labor market has recovered slowly but steadily in the years since the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. But for young adults between the ages of 16 and 19, the recovery has been tepid at best: In the five year period since the summer of 2008, youth unemployment has averaged a staggering 23.5 percent, and the seasonally-adjusted rate was still north of 21 percent as of this writing. These young adults are missing out on extra spending cash, but they’re also missing out on early workforce experience that could play a valuable role in future career development. In this new study, Drs. Christopher Ruhm of the University of Virginia and Charles Baum of Middle Tennessee State University examine data that spans three decades to measure the career benefits of early work experience.

The economists rely on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), which tracks the career progress of one group of respondents who graduated from high school in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and another group of respondents who were in high school around the turn of the millennium. This permits them to examine both the near-term benefits of early work experience (roughly 10 years after graduation) and the longer-term benefits of that experience (roughly 30 years after graduation).

Carefully controlling for other family background characteristics that could impact subsequent career achievement, Drs. Ruhm and Baum find clear evidence that part-time work by young adults–both during senior year of high school, and during the summer months—translates to future career benefits that include higher hourly wages, increased annual earnings and less time spent out of work.

Bibliography Citation
Ruhm, Christopher J. and Charles L. Baum. "The Lasting Benefits of Early Work Experience." Policy Report, Washington DC: Employment Policies Institute, August 2014.