Interrupted Work Careers [report]

Jacob Mincer, Haim Ofek
1980 unpublished
The quantitative effects and even the existence of "human capital depreciation" phenomena has been a subject of controversy in the recent literature. Prior work, however, was largely cross-sectional and the iotgitudina1 dimension, if any, was retrospective. Using longitudinal panel data (on married women in NLS) we have now established that real wages at reentry are, indeed, lower than. at the point of labor force withdrawal, and the decline in wages is bigger the longer the interruption.
more » ... r striking finding is a relatively rapid growth in wages after the return to worh. This rapid growth appears to reflect the restoration (or "repair") of previously eroded human capital. The phenomenon of "dep-reciation" and "restoration" is also visible in data for immigrants to the United States. However, while immigrants eventually catch up with and often surpass natives, returnees from the non-market never fully restore their earnings potential.
doi:10.3386/w0479 fatcat:6rjs7oi4szdyxnvlsvs6rgdnua