LABOR DEMAND, METROPOLITAN CONTEXT, AND MALE YOUTHS' ACTIVITY STRATEGIES

Abstract

Intermetropolitan variations in youth labor demand impose important contextual effects on youths' activities-youths tend to choose work over, or in combination with, schooling in metropolitan areas marked by strong demand for youth labor. I argue that youth labor demand is strongest in metropolitan areas (1) with a healthy economy and strong overall labor demand, (2) where the labor supply is not disproportionately composed of adult women or recent immigrants, and (3) where the demand for labor disproportionately comes from youth-oriented industries and occupations-for example, low-level jobs in the retail and entertainment industries. Black and White male youths' activities were analyzed with multinomial logit statistical analysis performed on a multi-level data set constructed from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS). The analysis provides solid empirical support for the argument that male youths choose employment over schooling in metropolitan areas with strong aggregate labor demand. Mixed support emerges for the second and third arguments. Only poorly educated Black males experience an employment disadvantage in areas where recent immigrants constitute a large share of the labor supply. In metropolitan areas where less-educated women constitute a disproportionate share of the labor supply, well-educated Black male youths choose continued schooling while less-educated Black male youths choose employment. As expected, White male youths living in areas with a youth-oriented mix of industries and occupations choose employment over schooling. For Black male youths, however, the effect of job mix depends on educational attainment. Black male youths with at least some college are more likely to be employed, while Black male youths lacking a high school diploma are less likely to employed, in metropolitan areas with youth-favorable labor demand. In conclusion, while intermetropolitan variations in youth labor demand affect youths' activities, educational attainment and race exert important conditioning effects that cannot be ignored.