A HUMAN CAPITAL METHODOLOGY FOR ESTIMATING THE LIFELONG PERSONAL COSTS OF YOUNG WOMEN LEAVING THE SEX TRADE

Abstract

This article combines case study interviews with the tools of economic cost-benefit analysis to estimate the lifelong effects for individuals in Manitoba, Canada, who began engaging in prostitution as youths. The empirical findings reveal that sex workers retain only a small portion of their earnings from prostitution after feeding drug addictions and third-parties extortions of net residual earnings. The sex-trade worker typically suffers from debilitating addictions and health conditions that are symptomatic of the stress and danger of engaging in this lifestyle. After leaving prostitution, the former sex worker faces major challenges in rejoining the mainstream labor market. The issues engender multiple reasons for policy-makers to direct their attention to counteracting the conditions of vulnerability that bring youth into this lifestyle and, thereby, effectively disrupting the supply of sex workers.