Do legal school leaving rules still affect schooling and earnings?

•This paper quantifies whether compulsory schooling laws still influence educational achievement and earnings today.•I find that compulsory schooling laws were effective for the white men born in the 1930s and 1940s in the U.S.•However, they no longer produce the same seasonality effects on the educational attainment of the younger white men.•The school leaving rules are currently effective in keeping the younger African American cohorts at school.

This paper quantifies whether compulsory schooling laws are still effective in the 21st century and if so, to what extent the school compulsion continues to influence individuals' educational achievement and labor market earnings. Using American Community Survey, I find that compulsory schooling laws were effective for the white men and women born in the 1930s and 1940s in the U.S.; however, they no longer produce the same seasonality effects on the educational attainment of the white cohorts who completed their educational attainment in the 2000s. I also find that the school compulsion was not binding for the older African American cohorts; however, they were effective in keeping the younger African American men at school longer.