Volume 7, Number 4 (Fall) 1972
Offner, Paul. 1972. "Labor Force Participation in the Ghetto." Journal of Human Resources 7(4):460-481.
It is generally recognized that one factor contributing to ghetto employment problems is the poor location of the ghettos relative to job locations. This study, based on 1960 Census tract data for New York City, was an effort to find out how important the location factor is. The major findings are: (1) Labor supply is depressed in the ghetto for the prime age groups (about 3 percent for males, 6 percent for females) rather than for teenagers and older people, as might have been expected. (2) After controlling for their demographic, social, and economic characteristics, prime age people in the ghetto have depressed participation rates at least partly as a result of the shortage of jobs there.
The author recently received his doctoral degree in economics from Princeton University. The article is taken from my Ph.D. dissertation of the same title. Financial support was provided under the National Defense Education Act, by the Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, and by Princeton University. I am indebted to Daniel H. Saks and Orley Ashenfelter, and particularly to my adviser, Albert Rees. Of course, I alone am responsible for any errors.
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