A Model for Analyzing Youth Labor Market Policies

Abstract

This paper formulates a model of the youth labor market. At the heart of the model is a minimum wage restriction which causes some youths to become unemployed and prevents others from training. Labor is assumed to be heterogeneous in performance on skilled iobs and is less productive as youths than as adults simply because of immaturity. The model is applied to analyze the effects of three representative policies: a youth subminimum wage, subsidies paid to firms that hire youths, and training subsidies that offset the costs of on-the-job training.