T HE inferiority of southern black schools (especially rural schools) alleged by the Coleman Report (1966), coupled with the mass migration historically of southern blacks to northern cities, provides one potential explanation of the generally low returns to black education and of urban poverty in the nonSouth. Evidence from the 1960 Census suggests, however, that black migrants to the metropolitan North had higher incomes and less unemployment than blacks born there, even after controlling for differences in age, years of school completed, and a number of other variables (Masters, 1972). More recent evidence, confirming this pattern, from the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity (Weiss and Williamson, 1972) and the 1970 Census (Long and Heltman, 1974) also discounts the inferiority of southern black schools as an explanation of urban poverty in the non-South. In fact, the overall effect of a northern or even a large southern ghetto environment may be more harmful to black economic progress than a rural southern origin (Weiss and Williamson, 1972). In this paper we present results, using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys, that support the economic disadvantage of a nonsouthern ghetto environment for young black males. Controlling for differences in age, years of school completed, region and character of current residence, we find the mean earnings of young black males educated in the metropolitan non-South are substantially less than those of their peers educated in the rural South. We are unable to confirm this disadvantage for older black males, however. Several attitudinal and labor force characteristics of young blacks were examined to account for this pattern. The results suggest that a major problem in reducing black poverty lies in improving the environment of the nonsouthern ghetto. We also extend the analysis to whites in order to examine the rural-urban dimensions of environment and migration and their effect upon racial earnings differentials. The National Longitudinal Surveys, which provide the primary data for this paper, constitute a five-year longitudinal study of the labor market experiences of four subsets of the U.S. population: men 45 to 59 years of age, women 30 to 44 years of age, young men 14 to 24 years, and young women 14 to 24 years of age.1 For each of these cohorts a national probability sample of the noninstitutionalized civilian population was drawn by the Bureau of the Census. The present study is based upon data collected in the first round of interviews in 1966 with the two cohorts of men. Analysis is restricted to men whose current or last job reported in the survey week of 1966 was as a wage or salary earner. The self-employed are excluded to overcome the difficulty of separating income received as returns to physical capital from that received as returns to human capital. An additional universe restriction is included for the younger men's cohort to ensure they had been out of school for a minimum of 12 months. In section I we build upon earlier earningsfunctions studies by introducing variables which identify geographic origin of schooling. Section II explores the implications of our findReceived for publication January 28, 1974. Revision accepted for publication July 9, 1975. *This paper was prepared under a contract with the Manpower Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. We are indebted to Bennett Harrison, Ray Marshall, Herbert S. Parnes, and a helpful referee for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. We especially thank Clarice Conger-Thompson, Gary Schoch, and Keith Stober for research and computational assistance. As is customary, the views expressed in this article are our own. I For a description of these surveys see Parnes (1972).
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Apr 1, 2006
Nelson N Stone + 5
Open Access