This article explores whether the characterization of the U.S. education system as failing to provide a smooth transition from high school to the labor market for the average student is accurate. The article uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLS-Y) to estimate the distribution of young men's ages at entrance into jobs lasting various lengths of time--specifically, one, two, and three years. Although the article does not examine the characteristics of these jobs, its approach offers a useful way to characterize the amount of "milling about" that U.S. youth do in the labor market.
MDS-896 / September 1995