Employer Demand for Welfare Recipients by Race. Discussion Paper.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Employer Demand for Welfare Recipients by Race. Discussion Paper.
Language: English
Authors: Holzer, Harry J., Stoll, Michael A., Wisconsin Univ., Madison. Inst. for Research on Poverty., Urban Inst., Washington, DC.
Availability: For full text: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/irp/.
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 55
Publication Date: 2000
Sponsoring Agency: Russell Sage Foundation, New York, NY.
Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL.
Report Number: IRP-DP-1213-00
Document Type: Reports - Research
Descriptors: Employers, Employment Opportunities, Equal Opportunities (Jobs), Labor Market, Telephone Surveys, Urban Areas, Welfare Recipients
Geographic Terms: U.S.; Wisconsin
Abstract: This paper uses new survey data on employers in four large metropolitan areas to examine the determinants of employer demand for welfare recipients. Data come from a telephone survey of approximately 750 establishments. Results suggest a high level of demand for welfare recipients, although such demand appears fairly sensitive to business cycle conditions. A broad range of factors, including skill needs and industry, affect the prospective demand for welfare recipients among employers, while other characteristics that affect the relative supply of welfare recipients to these employers (such as location and employer use of local agencies or welfare-to-work programs) influence the extent to which such demand is realized in actual hiring. Moreover, the conditional demand for Black, and to a lesser extent Hispanic, welfare recipients lags behind their representation in the welfare population and seems to be more heavily affected by employers' location and indicators of preferences than by their skill needs or overall hiring activity. Thus various factors on the demand side of the labor market continue to limit the employment options of welfare recipients, especially those who are minorities. (Contains 7 tables and 34 references.) (Author/SLD)
Journal Code: RIEAPR2001
Entry Date: 2001
Accession Number: ED447230
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:This paper uses new survey data on employers in four large metropolitan areas to examine the determinants of employer demand for welfare recipients. Data come from a telephone survey of approximately 750 establishments. Results suggest a high level of demand for welfare recipients, although such demand appears fairly sensitive to business cycle conditions. A broad range of factors, including skill needs and industry, affect the prospective demand for welfare recipients among employers, while other characteristics that affect the relative supply of welfare recipients to these employers (such as location and employer use of local agencies or welfare-to-work programs) influence the extent to which such demand is realized in actual hiring. Moreover, the conditional demand for Black, and to a lesser extent Hispanic, welfare recipients lags behind their representation in the welfare population and seems to be more heavily affected by employers' location and indicators of preferences than by their skill needs or overall hiring activity. Thus various factors on the demand side of the labor market continue to limit the employment options of welfare recipients, especially those who are minorities. (Contains 7 tables and 34 references.) (Author/SLD)