Youth Job Structure and School Enrollment, 1890-1920

Abstract

Explanations of early growth in American school enrollment alternatively point to rural-cultural beliefs or urban-economic antecedents. Research suggests that urban labor markets encouraged youth to stay in school longer, especially into the early 1900's, as job opportunity structures began to exclude young people. However, more recent study indicates that early grammar school enrollments rose most quickly in rural areas, and began decades before widespread industrialization. This evidence suggests that the momentum initially sparked by Protestant cultural commitments in rural America, and the persistence of school-institution building, may be sufficient to explain later growth of youth enrollments in secondary grades. Our study disaggregates enrollments of children (ages 5-14) and older youth (14-19) to examine whether urban factors-especially job opportunity structures-help explain youth enrollment growth in the 1890-1920 period, after controlling for child enrollment rates. Multivariate analyses first examine the influence of urban factors-manufacturing output, school expenditures and social heterogeneity reflected by immigrants' illiteracy levels-on youth enrollment rates. Then, within this general pattern of urbanization, the analysis examines enrollment effects of variable labor markets confronting young people, in terms of the proportionate size of blue-collar, white-collar and, for women, teaching job sectors. Differential labor structure effects on youth enrollment patterns are examined separately for states and cities, and between young males and females.