Purpose

To estimate the effect of youth employment and income on smoking initiation, this study tests whether youth with higher incomes from either employment or allowance are more likely to smoke, and, if so, whether it is the employment effect or the income effect that affects youth smoking initiation.

Methods

Data from the 2003-2007 Korea Youth Panel Study were used to estimate the effect of youth employment and income on smoking initiation. A fixed-effects linear probability model was estimated to control for unobserved individual heterogeneity, which may affect both youth employment/income and smoking initiation.

Results

Even after controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, youth employment raised the probability of smoking initiation by 4.4% points, but neither employment income nor allowance was significantly associated with youth smoking initiation.

Conclusions

Youth employment is an important risk factor for smoking initiation in South Korea, suggesting that workplaces that hire youth may be an appropriate target for antismoking interventions.