Full Citation

Title: The color of labor: The changing racial and spatial distribution of middle-skill employment

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2011

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Abstract: Research regarding the growing gap between rich and poor has not wholly considered the dissolution of America's middle-skill jobs (occupations that require training/education beyond the high-school level, but less than a four-year degree). I draw on data from the CPS (1990 to 2009) to uncover the extent to which low, middle, and high-skill employment are distributed among white and nonwhite workers in rural, suburban and urban regions, and how this distribution has changed since 1990. Blacks and Hispanics remain overrepresented in low-skill employment and underrepresented in high-skill labor, although blacks made the most significant percentage gains in high-skill employment since 1990, particularly in the suburbs. Hispanics and rural Americans are most likely to report middle-skill employment, while suburbanites are least likely to report employment in these jobs. The Great Recession expedited middle-skill labor's decline. While both low and high-skill labor increased during this time, high-skill employment expanded far more rapidly.

Url: https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/155/

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Authors: Young, Justin, R

Institution: University of New Hampshire, Durham

Department: Sociology

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Degree: Masters of Sociology

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure

Countries: United States