title: Early work experience of graduates and dropouts.
abstract: For the past seven years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported on the differential work-force status of recent high school graduates and dropouts. Their definition of graduate and dropout populations and a failure to distinguish inter-cohort differences from intra-cohort changes may have led to an erroneous assessment of progress in the work force subsequent to entry. Emphasis on the value of a high-school diploma at the time of work-force entry rather than on the value of an incremental school year appears misplaced. Current data-collection programs are not generating the statistics needed to answer the policy questions to which these reports are addressed.
authors.affiliation: The University of Michigan, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Duncan