Data and Code for Initial Industry and Long-Term Earnings Growth

This paper studies whether employment growth in the worker’s initial industry influencesfuture earnings. We examine the earnings growth of male workers using the 1979National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. We follow workers for 20 years after they have entered the labor market and selected an initial industry, controlling for detailed measures of practical skills, cognitive ability, noncognitive skills, and family background. Respondents selecting an initial industry that has lower employment growth experience substantially lower earnings growth. Notably, after controlling for observable skills and attributes, the inclusion of controls for family background and region has no impact on the estimates. This is the data and the replication codes accompanying the article.