TY  - JOUR
AU  - Card, David
AU  - Lemieux, Thomas
TI  - Adapting to Circumstances: The Evolution of Work, School, and Living Arrangements Among North American Youth
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 6142
PY  - 1997
Y2  - August 1997
DO  - 10.3386/w6142
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6142
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w6142.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
David Card
Department of Economics
549 Evans Hall, #3880
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3880
Tel: 510/642-5222
Fax: 510/643-7042
E-Mail: card@econ.berkeley.edu

Thomas Lemieux
Vancouver School of Economics
University of British Columbia
6000 Iona Drive
Vancouver, BC V6T 1L4
CANADA
E-Mail: thomas.lemieux@ubc.ca
M1  - published as David Card, Thomas Lemieux. "Adapting to Circumstances (The Evolution of Work, School,and Living Arrangements among North American Youth)," in David G. Blanchflower and Richard B. Freeman, editors, "Youth Employment and Joblessness in Advanced Countries" University of Chicago Press (2000)

AB  - We use comparable micro data sets for the U.S. and Canada to study the responses of young workers to the external labor market forces that have affected the two countries over the past 25 years.  We find that young workers adjust to changes in labor market opportunities through a variety of mechanisms, including changes in living arrangements, changes in school enrollment, and changes in work effort.  In particular, we find that poor labor market conditions in Canada explain why the fraction of youth living with their parents has increased in Canada relative to the U.S. recently.  Paradoxically, this move back home also explains why the relative position of Canadian youth in the distribution of family income did not deteriorate as fast as in the U.S.
ER  -