Drawing on studies dealing with the relationship between family and work, the authors develop a model of youth labor force participation incorporating household, local economic, and individual variables. Data are from the 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample D (PUMS-D) for 16-to 18-year-old males and females living with their parents. The findings suggest that household structural characteristics and family resources have a significant effect on youths entering the labor force. Implications of the findings are discussed.
Drawing on theories of family organization and labor‐market structures, it is argued that teenagers represent a useful target population for research on the effects of race, household characteristics, and local labor markets on labor‐force participation. Toward this end, predictive models of labor‐force participation are applied to a sample of all white and black 16‐ to 18‐year‐olds living at home in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan labor‐market areas in the United States. Beyond the higher labor‐force participation of white youths, both local labor‐market characteristics and family resources affect teenage labor‐force participation. Participation of white youths was more closely linked to family resources and local economic conditions than that of black youths. Queuing theories of labor‐force participation are used to interpret these findings.
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