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Are There Returns to Experience at Low-Skill Jobs? Evidence from Single Mothers in the United States over the 1990s

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Looney

    (The Brookings Institution)

  • Day Manoli

    (University of Texas at Austin)

Abstract

Policy changes in the United States in the 1990s resulted in sizable increases in employment rates of single mothers. We show that this increase led to a large and abrupt increase in work experience for single mothers with young children. We then examine the economic return to this increase in experience for affected single mothers. Despite the increases in experience, single mothers’ real wages and employment have remained relatively unchanged. The empirical analysis suggests that an additional year of experience increases single mothers’ wage rates by less than 2 percent, a percentage lower than previous estimates in the literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Looney & Day Manoli, 2016. "Are There Returns to Experience at Low-Skill Jobs? Evidence from Single Mothers in the United States over the 1990s," Upjohn Working Papers 16-255, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:upj:weupjo:16-255
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jonah B. Gelbach, 2002. "Public Schooling for Young Children and Maternal Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 307-322, March.
    2. Ted Joyce & Robert Kaestner & Sanders Korenman, 2002. "On the validity of retrospective assessments of pregnancy intention," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(1), pages 199-213, February.
    3. Bruce D. Meyer, 2010. "The Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Recent Reforms," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 24, pages 153-180, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Lisa Barrow & Diane W. Schanzenbach & Bea Rivera, 2024. "Work, Poverty, and Social Benefits over the Past Three Decades," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 711(1), pages 100-120, January.
    2. Lisa Barrow & Diane W. Schanzenbach & Bea Rivera, 2024. "Work, Poverty, and Social Benefits over the Past Three Decades," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 711(1), pages 100-120, January.
    3. Lauren E. Jones & Guangyi Wang & Tansel Yilmazer, 2022. "The long‐term effect of the Earned Income Tax Credit on women's physical and mental health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(6), pages 1067-1102, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wage returns to experience; Welfare reform; Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996; Single mothers; Low-skill labor; Current Population Survey; Synthetic cohorts;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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