| The aim of the dissertation is to explain the labor market entry decisions of teenagers in the United States and the rest of the developed world in a comparative perspective. Traditional economic explanations rely solely on individual economic motivations such as money to account for why so many teenagers work while still in school. This dissertation compares traditional economic factors to non-economic/social factors in predicting the labor market entry decisions of teenagers. The findings suggest that in the United States, economic factors such as income, promotion options, hourly pay and job prospects do not matter in predicting teenagers' labor market entry decisions. In contrast, non-economic factors, such as meeting people and lack of confidence in the education system explain why so many teenagers work in the United States while economic motivations are dominant in other industrialized nations. |
