Study: Gaming employment contributes to Indian drop-out rates

Thursday, July 29, 2010  

"A study of tribal casinos shows a checkered pattern of benefits and drawbacks for those on the reservation. William Evans and Wooyoung Kim found that when casinos open, local wages and employment rates improve, but drop-out rates increase and rates of college enrollment tend to decline.

Evans, an economist at Notre Dame University, presented their paper “The Impact of Local Labor Market Conditions on the Demand for Education” in May at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Looking at 25-40 year olds, 1990 and 2000, the scholars found no significant change in employment rates on reservations without casinos. But on Indian lands with casinos, among people in this same age group, they found a 2.3% percentage increase in employment generally, a 6% increase in full-time workers, and “a 3.3 percent increase in real wages.”

Between 1990 and 2000, young adult Indians living on reservations with casinos “had large declines in high school graduation rates,” the scholars found. “For male Indians, high school graduation rate drops by 9.6 percentage points for 20-24 age group and by 4.0 percentage points for 25-29 age group.” The effect was even larger among young Native American women. For women 20-24, high school graduation declined by 11.5% with establishment of a casino, 9.3% for the group age 25-29. The scholars conclude, “This is clear evidence that favorable labor market conditions lead Indians to drop out of high school.”"

Get the Story:
Julie Ardery: Indian Casinos: More Is Less Education (The Daily Yonder 7/29)