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Author: Valero, Gil J. N.
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Valero, Gil J. N.
Influence of Past Labor Force Experience and Education on Economic Activity and Inactivity
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California - Santa Barbara, 1989
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning
Keyword(s): Data Analysis; Educational Attainment; Employment, Youth; Job Search; Labor Force Participation; Markov chain / Markov model; Methods/Methodology; Modeling, Logit; Racial Differences; Statistical Analysis; Transition, Job to Job; Unemployment, Youth; Variables, Independent - Covariate

This work investigates the relationship between past experience and the choice of status in the labor market, employment, continuing unemployment, and leaving the labor force, for young people, 16-23 years old, by race. The data used are from the 1979 and 1980 interviews of the NLSY. The major focus is the ways that youth become inactive, that is, neither enrolled in school nor in the labor force. The theoretical framework applies the concept of semi-Markov processes to explain the factors affecting the probabilities of transition from one labor force state to another, as well as the varying time or duration spent in a state before moving. Three methodologies were used to analyze the problem. The first is descriptive analysis, which reveals the importance of having being employed as condition of avoiding inactivity in the future. The second uses Goodman log-linear models and path analysis to investigate the dependence of the outcomes of enrollment and labor force activity upon race. The third uses a multinomial logit model. The dependent variable was status in the labor force and the independent variables were: fractions of time out of the labor force and unemployed during the past year, the number of employers and number of times not employed, education, sex, age, and area unemployment rates. This analysis revealed that the most important variables explaining differences in status among the three races were those related to occurrence dependence and those related to duration dependence. The main result obtained is that a policy promoting employment for youth of all races will increase the probability of employment for individuals of all races in the future and will benefit Hispanics and blacks relative to whites.
Bibliography Citation
Valero, Gil J. N. Influence of Past Labor Force Experience and Education on Economic Activity and Inactivity. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California - Santa Barbara, 1989.