Long-run effects of motivation on labor-market success

We examine the relationship between motivation and labor-market success using a sample from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). We relate social psychological traits and other characteristics observed in men age 21-29 to labor-market attainments measured 15 to 25 years later. In contrast to most previous work with these and similar national survey data, we find that earnings are affected strongly both by an orientation toward challenge, and by a sense of personal control. The effects of these measures, if anything, increase with the measurement interval between the traits and subsequent earnings. Orientation toward challenge also predicts future on-the-job training. Taken together, our motivational measures are about as powerful as completed schooling in accounting for future labor-market success.

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