Volume 9, Number 4 (Fall) 1974
Barrett, Nancy S., and Richard D. Morgenstern. 1974. "Why Do Blacks and Women Have High Unemployment Rates?" Journal of Human Resources 9(4):452-464.
This paper analyzes differences in the duration, turnover, and distribution of unemployment by race, sex, age, and occupation. Data are drawn primarily from the Work Experience Surveys conducted since 1964. We find that high job turnover accounts for the relatively high unemployment rates observed among blacks in general, young people of both races, and individuals in unskilled occupations. However, women, especially white women of childbearing age, experience higher unemployment rates because they are unemployed longer between jobs.
The authors are, respectively, Professor of Economics, The American University, and Assistant Professor of Economics, Queens College of the City University of New York. A preliminary version of this paper was presented at the meetings of the Econometric Society, New Orleans, December 1971. We are grateful to Barry Chiswick, W. Lee Hansen, Charles Holt, and George Perry for helpful comments. Jack Bregger of the Bureau of Labor Statistics provided us with unpublished data on unemployment by occupation. The Editor was most generous with his editorial suggestions.
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