LABOR-FORCE BEHAVIOR IN THE PROCESS OF SOCIOECONOMIC ATTAINMENT - NEW SCALES ADDED TO CLASSICAL-MODELS

We show that new scales summarizing complex types of labor force behavior are strongly related to socioeconomic attainments for males aged 25-64, net of standard predictors measuring background, schooling, and experience or first-job status. Baseline status-attainment models are reconsidered with data from the 1973 Occupational Changes in a Generation study (OCG-II), with both the models and the data viewed as an important test case. One goal is to examine whether the "effects" of labor force behavior remain when background status and other factors are statistically controlled. Results provide evidence for the importance of proximate labor market experiences (i.e., recent labor-force careers) and worker marginality (i.e., underemployment) in models predicting occupational status and especially in models predicting log-earnings. The perspective advocated here can be used in longitudinal analyses involving labor force careers as predictors of attainments over the life cycle. © 1991.