Teenagers in the U.S. Labor Force: Local Labor Markets, Race, and Family1

Abstract Drawing on theories of family organization and labor‐market structures, it is argued that teenagers represent a useful target population for research on the effects of race, household characteristics, and local labor markets on labor‐force participation. Toward this end, predictive models of labor‐force participation are applied to a sample of all white and black 16‐ to 18‐year‐olds living at home in nonmetropolitan and metropolitan labor‐market areas in the United States. Beyond the higher labor‐force participation of white youths, both local labor‐market characteristics and family resources affect teenage labor‐force participation. Participation of white youths was more closely linked to family resources and local economic conditions than that of black youths. Queuing theories of labor‐force participation are used to interpret these findings.