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 late,: 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.