Journal of Political Economy Vol. 132 No. 3 2024

Can Mentoring Alleviate Family Disadvantage in Adolescence? A Field Experiment to Improve Labor Market Prospects

Sven Resnjanskij¹; Jens Ruhose^2,3; Simon Wiederhold⁴; Ludger Woessmann⁵; Katharina Wedel⁶

¹ University of Konstanz · ² IZA - Institute of Labor Economics · ³ Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel · ⁴ Halle Institute for Economic Research · ⁵ Hoover Institution · ⁶ Ifo Institute for Economic Research

Abstract

We study a mentoring program that aims to improve the labor market prospects of disadvantaged adolescents. Our randomized controlled trial investigates its effectiveness on three outcomes highly predictive of later labor market success: math grades, patience/social skills, and labor market orientation. For low-SES (socioeconomic status) adolescents, the mentoring increases a combined index of the outcomes by over half a standard deviation after 1 year, with significant increases in each outcome. Effects on grades and labor market orientation, but not on patience/social skills, persist 3 years after program start. By that time, the mentoring also improves early realizations of school-to-work transitions for low-SES adolescents. The mentoring is not effective for higher-SES adolescents.

DOI

10.1086/726905

Volume

132

Issue

3

Pages

1013-1062

Language

en

Sources

bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

Cite

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