Abstract
We explore the labor market returns to the General Education Development (GED) exam for US natives and the foreign-born. We find that foreign-born men with a GED who received all of their formal schooling abroad earn significantly more than either foreign-schooled high school dropouts or graduates. In contrast, among US natives, GED recipients earn less than high school graduates but significantly more than dropouts. The returns for natives become larger over the life cycle and are not due to cohort effects. Our findings indicate that the GED may be more valuable in the labor market than some previous research suggests.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 769-793 |
Number of pages | 25 |
Journal | Journal of Population Economics |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2006 |
Keywords
- GED
- immigration
- sheepskin effects
- EDUCATION QUESTIONS
- UNITED-STATES
- BENEFITS
- EARNINGS
- MATTER
- WOMEN