The study looked at how the type of industry a person starts working in affects their earnings over time. They used data from a survey that followed people for 20 years after they started working. The results showed that if the industry they started in had low job growth, their earnings growth was also lower. This was true even after considering the person's skills, family background, and region. Jobs that involved routine or manual tasks had a bigger impact on earnings growth compared to jobs with less abstract tasks, but this difference was not significant.