IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v139y2018i2d10.1007_s11205-017-1730-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Striving to Work

Author

Listed:
  • Debra L. Brucker

    (University of New Hampshire)

  • Nicholas G. Rollins

    (University of New Hampshire)

  • Andrew J. Houtenville

    (University of New Hampshire
    University of New Hampshire)

Abstract

Using data from the 2011–2015 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, this study improves upon standard United States labor force measures to create three new measures which better capture the range of activities and attitudes that signal, at the individual level, an interest in work. When comparing the traditional employment-to-population ratio and the labor force participation rate with these new ‘striving to work’ measures, we find stark racial differences across measures. Hispanics have slightly higher odds of being employed or in the labor force than non-Hispanic whites, yet have similar odds of striving to work. Other vulnerable populations, including non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic persons of other non-white races, females, and persons with disabilities, have significantly lower odds of participation in any of the five measures, compared to their comparison groups and controlling for other covariates. Policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Debra L. Brucker & Nicholas G. Rollins & Andrew J. Houtenville, 2018. "Striving to Work," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 541-558, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:139:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1730-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-017-1730-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-017-1730-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-017-1730-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald Freeman, 2012. "On (Not) Closing the Gaps: The Evolution of National and Regional Unemployment Rates by Race and Ethnicity," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 39(2), pages 267-284, June.
    2. Roland G. Fryer, Jr. & Devah Pager & Jörg L. Spenkuch, 2013. "Racial Disparities in Job Finding and Offered Wages," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(3), pages 633-689.
    3. John K. Dagsvik & Zhiyang Jia & Tom Kornstad & Thor O. Thoresen, 2014. "Theoretical And Practical Arguments For Modeling Labor Supply As A Choice Among Latent Jobs," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 134-151, February.
    4. Ndongo Samba SYLLA, 2013. "Measuring labour absorption problems in developing countries: Limitations of the concept of unemployment," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 152(1), pages 27-41, March.
    5. David Card, 2011. "Origins of the Unemployment Rate: The Lasting Legacy of Measurement without Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 552-557, May.
    6. Steven E. Haugen, 2009. "Measures of labor underutilization from the Current Population Survey," Working Papers 424, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    7. Scott Baum & William Mitchell, 2010. "Labour Underutilisation and Gender: Unemployment Versus Hidden-Unemployment," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 29(2), pages 233-248, April.
    8. Stephanie Aaronson & Tomaz Cajner & Bruce Fallick & Felix Galbis-Reig & Christopher Smith & William Wascher, 2014. "Labor Force Participation: Recent Developments and Future Prospects," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 45(2 (Fall)), pages 197-275.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlos Arteta & M. Ayhan Kose & Franziska Ohnsorge & Marc Stocke, 2015. "The Coming U.S. Interest Rate Tightening Cycle: Smooth Sailing or Stormy Waters?," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 1522, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    2. Jonathan Willis & Didem Tuzemen, 2017. "How Has Job Polarization Contributed to the Increase in Non-Participation of Prime-Age Men?," 2017 Meeting Papers 1516, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    3. Dean Hyslop & Amy Rice & Hayden Skilling, 2019. "Understanding labour market developments in New Zealand, 1986-2017," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2019/02, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    4. John C. Williams, 2016. "Longview: The Economic Outlook," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    5. Stock, J.H. & Watson, M.W., 2016. "Dynamic Factor Models, Factor-Augmented Vector Autoregressions, and Structural Vector Autoregressions in Macroeconomics," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 415-525, Elsevier.
    6. Jaimovich, Nir & Saporta-Eksten, Itay & Siu, Henry & Yedid-Levi, Yaniv, 2021. "The macroeconomics of automation: Data, theory, and policy analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 1-16.
    7. Jeremy W Bray & Brooks Depro & Dorren McMahon & Marion Siegle & Lee Mobley, 2016. "Disconnected Geography: A Spatial Analysis of Disconnected Youth in the United States," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 317-342, September.
    8. David H. Bernstein & Andrew B. Martinez, 2021. "Jointly Modeling Male and Female Labor Participation and Unemployment," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, December.
    9. Verdugo, Gregory & Allègre, Guillaume, 2020. "Labour force participation and job polarization: Evidence from Europe during the Great Recession," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Katharine G. Abraham & Melissa S. Kearney, 2020. "Explaining the Decline in the US Employment-to-Population Ratio: A Review of the Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(3), pages 585-643, September.
    11. Clemens, Jeffrey, 2016. "The Low-Skilled Labor Market from 2002 to 2014: Measurement and Mechanisms," MPRA Paper 75690, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Dunsch, Sophie, 2016. "Does labor force participation rates of youth vary within the business cycle? Evidence from Germany and Poland," Discussion Papers 386, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Department of Business Administration and Economics.
    13. Andreas Hornstein & Marianna Kudlyak, 2019. "Aggregate Labor Force Participation and Unemployment and Demographic Trends," Working Paper 19-8, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
    14. Callum Jones, 2023. "Aging, Secular Stagnation, and the Business Cycle," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1580-1595, November.
    15. John C. Williams, 2016. "After the first rate hike," FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    16. Danny Yagan, 2019. "Employment Hysteresis from the Great Recession," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(5), pages 2505-2558.
    17. Jeffrey Clemens, 2015. "The Minimum Wage and the Great Recession: Evidence from the Current Population Survey," NBER Working Papers 21830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Francisco Perez‐Arce & María J. Prados, 2021. "The Decline In The U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate: A Literature Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 615-652, April.
    19. Henry R. Hyatt & James R. Spletzer, 2016. "The Shifting Job Tenure Distribution†," Working Papers 16-12r, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    20. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4igrl22i129kl9t3bjsriribbs is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Hess T. Chung & Bruce Fallick & Christopher J. Nekarda & David Ratner, 2014. "Assessing the Change in Labor Market Conditions," FEDS Notes 2014-05-22, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:139:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-017-1730-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.