The Black Youth Employment Crisis

by Freeman, Richard B.; Holzer, Harry J.

• ISBN13: 9780226261645
• ISBN10: 0226261646
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1986-05-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

In recent years, the earnings of young blacks have risen substantially relative to those of young whites, but their rates of joblessness have also risen to crisis levels. The papers in this volume, drawing on the results of a groundbreaking survey conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research, analyze the history, causes, and features of this crisis. The findings they report and conclusions they reach revise accepted explanations of black youth unemployment. The contributors identify primary determinants on both the demand and supply sides of the market and provide new information on important aspects of the problem, such as drug use, crime, economic incentives, and attitudes among the unemployed. Their studies reveal that, contrary to popular assumptions, no single factor is the predominant cause of black youth employment problems. They show, among other significant factors, that where female employment is high, black youth employment is low; that even in areas where there are many jobs, black youths get relatively few of them; that the perceived risks and rewards of crime affect decisions to work or to engage in illegal activity; and that churchgoing and aspirations affect the success of black youths in finding employment. Altogether, these papers illuminate a broad range of economic and social factors which must be understood by policymakers before the black youth employment crisis can be successfully addressed.

Author Biography

Richard B. Freeman, director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research and professor of economics at Harvard University, is the author of several books and the coeditor of The Youth Labor Market Problem, published by the University of Chicago Press. Harry J. Holzer is assistant professor of economics at Michigan State University and faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

The Black Youth Employment Crisis

The Black Youth Employment Crisis: Summary of Findings

The Nature and Pattern of Change

Black Youth Nonemployment: Duration and Job Search

Transitions between Employment and Nonemployment John Ballen and Richard B. Freeman Comment

Layoffs, Discharges, and Youth Unemployment Peter Jackson and Edward Montgomery Comment

Causes: Demand

The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: Are There Teenage Jobs Missing in the Ghetto? David T. Ellwood Comment

The Demographic Determinants of the Demand for Black Labor George J. Borjas Comment

Brothers of a Different Color: A Preliminary Look at Employer Treatment of White and Black Youth Jerome Culp and Bruce H. Dunson Comment

Do Better Jobs Make Better Workers? Absenteeism from Work Among Inner-City Black Youths Ronald Ferguson and Randall Filer Comment

Causes: Supply

Market Incentives for Criminal Behavior W. Kip Viscusi Comment

Who Escapes? The Relation of Churchgoing and Other Background Factors to the Socioeconomic Performance of Black Male Youths from Inner-City Poverty Tracts

The Effects of Attitudes and Aspirations on the Labor Supply of Young Men

Do Welfare Programs Affect the Schooling and Work Patterns of Young Black Men? Robert Lerman Comment

Appendix: NBER-Mathematica Survey of Inner-City Black Youth: An Analysis of the Undercount of Older Youths

List of Contributors

Author Index

Subject Index

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