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

Authors

Adam Looney, The Brookings Institution
Dayanand S. Manoli, The University of Texas at AustinFollow

Series

Upjohn Institute working paper ; 16-255

DOI

10.17848/wp16-255

Issue Date

April 2016

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.

Sponsorship

W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research Early Career Research Award 13-141-03

Subject Areas

LABOR MARKET ISSUES; Wages, health insurance and other benefits; Work and family balance; UNEMPLOYMENT, DISABILITY, and INCOME SUPPORT PROGRAMS; Poverty and income support; Low wage labor markets