We examine the effect of measurement error on estimates of the size of the working poor population. Using a unique data set, which includes both self-reported and employer-reported earnings, we find that inaccurately reported earnings are common. Among those with very low self-reported earnings...

Once educational attainment and other observable characteristics have been controlled for, studies show that the gender wage gap among adult full-time workers is about half the size it was in 1980. Using U.S. Census and Current Population Survey (CPS) data from 1959 through 1999, the authors...

Data linking 1972 and 1992 adolescent skill endowments to adult outcomes reveal increasing complementarity between cognitive and social skills. In fact, previously noted growth in demand for cognitive skills affected only individuals with strong endowments of both social and cognitive skills....

Gender-typical educational choices and the “glass ceiling†are widely believed to explain why older women earn far less than observably similar men. Using large panels drawn from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Survey of College Graduates and other data representative...

Participation in high school sports and leadership activities is typically associated with later adult earnings premia. In stark contrast to the large but diminishing racial disadvantage found in other measures of educational opportunity, this analysis of high school leadership development finds...

Gender-typical educational choices and the glass ceiling are widely believed to explain why older women earn far less than observably similar men. Using large panels drawn from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) National Survey of College Graduates and other data representative of U.S....

Using Census and Current Population Survey data spanning 1959 through 1999, we assess the relative contributions of two factors to the decline in the gender wage gap: changes across cohorts in the relative slopes of men’s and women’s age-earnings profiles, versus changes in relative earnings...

American business seems to be infatuated with its workers’ "leadership" skills. Is there such a thing, and is it rewarded in labor markets? Using the Project Talent, NLS72 and High School and Beyond datasets, we show that men who occupied leadership positions in high school earn more as...