This chapter, Chapter 2 in "the Economics of Gender in Mexico," uses retrospective household survey data from Mexico to assess the long-term impacts of school dropout and of working early in life, in terms of adult labor market returns. Through these data, it is possible to link adult wages to the ages at which individuals started working and quit school. The standard neoclassical model of returns to human capital is modified by using alternative ways of measuring "early experience." The findings show that there is a penalty for dropping out of school and working early in life. Although there are positive returns to early labor market experience, these depend on continued progression through the school system. The results also indicate strong gender disparities. At every level of schooling and early employment, girls pay a greater penalty than boys for dropping out or for working while in school. This may be so because of differences in the types of work that boys and girls engage in at an early age. Boys may be acquiring real experience relevant to adult employment, while girls may be doing domestic work, which does not count in the adult labor market. These findings may also help explain the persistence of gender disparities in adult labor market outcomes, despite the reduction of gender differences in educational attainment. An appendix examines the bias in child and youth employment rates that results from ignoring housework. (Contains 41 references, 10 tables, and 4 figures.) (SV)