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The Labor Market and the American High School Girl 1890–1928

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Susan B. Carter  and
Mark Prus
Susan B. Carter
Affiliation:
Departments of Economics, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063
Mark Prus
Affiliation:
Departments of Economics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
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Abstract

Girls far outnumbered boys in American high schools at the turn of the century. Despite the fact that women on average spent far fewer years than men in the paid labor force, we argue that a high school education was a better investment for girls than for boys. This was because formal education offered the only opportunity for girls to obtain job-related skills, whereas it was but one of many such opportunities for boys.

Type
Papers Presented at the Forty-First Annual Meeting of the Economic History Association
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , March 1982 , pp. 163 - 171
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1982

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References

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10 This motive seems to have been growing in importance around the turn of the century, especially as mechanics' skills became more homogeneous across industries. See Weyl, Walter E. and Sakolski, A. M., “Conditions of Entrance to the Principal Trades,” U. S. Bureau of Labor, Bulletin 67 (Washington, D.C., 1906).Google Scholar

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15 Ibid.

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