Job-training policy rests on the assumptions that employment opportunities are plentiful, if only everyone were adequately educated, and that increasing the upward mobility of black and Hispanic workers serves the interests of employers as well as employees. These assumptions are challenged. Data are presented suggesting that there simply are not enough decently paying jobs for the number of people who need them. Labor market segmentation and the interest of employers in maintaining a racially segregated work force are dicussed as contributing to the shortage of "good" jobs and as creating barriers to upward mobility for minority workers.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abraham, K. G.1983. Structural/frictional vs. deficient demand unemployment: Some new evidence. American Economic Review73:708-724.
2.
Abraham, K. G.1987. Help-wanted advertising, job vacancies, and unemployment. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity1:207-248. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
3.
Bailey, T.1985. A case study of immigrants in the restaurant industry. Industrial Relations24 (2): 205-221.
4.
Bailey, T. , and R. Waldinger. 1984. A skills mismatch in New York's Labor market?New York Affairs8 (3): 3-18.
5.
Barnow, B.1989. Government training as a means of reducing unemployment. In Rethinking employment policy, edited by D. L. Bawden and F. Skidmore, 109-135. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
6.
Block, F.1987. Revising state theory: Essays in politics and postindustrialism. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press.
7.
Bluestone, B.1990. The great U-turn revisited: Economic restructuring, jobs and the redistribution of earnings. In Jobs, earnings and employment growth policies in the United States, edited by J. Kasarda. Boston: Kluwer.
8.
Bluestone, B. , and B. Harrison. 1982. The deindustrialization of America: Plant closings, community abandonment, and the dismantling of basic industry. New York: Basic Books.
9.
Bonacich, E.1976. Advanced capitalism and black/white race relations in the United States: A split labor market interpretation. American Sociological Review41:34-51.
10.
Chall, D.1985. New York City's "skills mismatch."Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quarterly Review (Spring): 20-27.
11.
Commission on the Year 2000 . 1987. New York ascendant: The report of the Commission on the Year 2000. New York: R. Wagner.
12.
Community Service Society of New York . 1985. Closed labor markets: Under representation of blacks, Hispanics and women in New York City's core industries and jobs. New York: W. Stafford.
13.
Doeringer, P. B. , and M. J. Piore. 1971. Internal labor markets and manpower analysis. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
14.
Drennan, M.1991. The decline and rise of the New York economy. In Dual city: Restructuring New York, edited by J. Mollenkopf and M. Castells, 25-41. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
15.
Edwards, R.1979. Contested terrain: The transformation of the workplace in the twentieth century. New York: Basic Books.
16.
Ehrenhalt, S. M. 1989. New York trends and prospects: The dynamics of jobs and people. Paper presented at the 47th session of the International Statistical Institute, Paris, France, September.
17.
Fainstein, N.1987. The underclass/mismatch hypothesis as an explanation for black economic deprivation. Politics and Society15 (4): 403-451.
18.
Fields, B. J.1990. Slavery, race and ideology in the United States of America. New Left Review181:95-118.
19.
Freedman, M.1985. Urban labor markets and ethnicity: Segments and shelters reexamined. In Urban ethnicity in the United States: New immigrants and old minorities, edited by L. Maldonado and J. Moore, 145-165. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
20.
Geertz, C.1973. The interpretation of cultures. New York: Basic Books.
21.
Gordon, D.1972. Theories of poverty and unemployment. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
22.
Gordon, D. , R. Edwards, and M. Reich. 1982. Segmented work divided workers: The historical transformation of labor in the United States. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
23.
Jencks, C.1985. Affirmative action for blacks. American Behavioral Scientist28 (6): 731-760.
Kasarda, J.1985. Urban change and minority opportunities. In The new urban reality, edited by P. Peterson, 33-67. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
26.
Kerner Commission . 1968. Report of the U.S. National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
27.
Kirschenman, J. , and K. Neckerman. 1991. "We'd love to hire them, but...": The meaning of race for employers. In The urban underclass, edited by C. Jencks and P. Peterson, 203-232. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
28.
Mollenkopf, J.1983. The contested city. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
29.
Mollenkopf, J. , and M. Castells. 1991. Introduction. In Dual city: Restructuring New York edited by J. Mollenkopf and M. Castells, 3-22. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
30.
Newfield, J. , and P. DuBrul. 1977. The abuse ofpower: The permanent government and the fall of New York. New York: Vintage.
31.
New York City Department of Employment, Office of Policy and Research . 1989. Job training plan. New York: Author.
32.
New York City Office for Economic Development, Policy Analysis Division . 1986. A guide to city, state and federal employment and training programs in New York City. New York: Author.
33.
New York City Human Resources Administration, Medical Assistance Program . 1988. Memorandum of communication to the author.
34.
New York State Department of Labor, Division of Research and Statistics . 1988. Occupational needs, 1989-91, New York City. Albany, NY: Patrick Berkery.
35.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Office of Business Development . 1988. The New York-New Jersey regional labor market: Challenges and opportunities for the coming decade. New York: Author.
36.
Riemer, D. R.1988. The prisoners of welfare: Liberating America's poor from unemployment and low wages. New York: Praeger.
37.
Rumberger, R. W. , and M. Carnoy. 1980. Segmentation in the U.S. labour market: Its effects on the mobility and earnings of whites and blacks. Cambridge Journal of Economics4:117-132.
38.
Sandel, M.1982. Liberalism and the limits of justice. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press.
39.
Sawhill, I. 1985. Rethinking employment policy. Paper presented at a conference of the Urban Institute, Washington, DC, September.
40.
Shefter, M.1985. Political crisis/fiscal crisis: The collapse and revival of New York City. New York: Basic Books.
41.
Steinberg, S.1989. The ethnic myth: Race, ethnicity and class in America. Boston: Beacon.
42.
Taylor, C.1989. Sources of the self. The making of the modern identity. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.
43.
Thurow, L.1975. Generating inequality: Mechanisms of distribution in the American economy. New York: Basic Books.
44.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics . 1988. New York metropolitan area wage survey. Bulletin 3054-19. Washington, DC: Department of Labor.
45.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census . 1982. Census of population and housing, 1980. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
46.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census . 1988. County and city data book. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
47.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census . 1989. Statistical abstract of the United States, 1989. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
48.
Waldinger, R.1987. Changing ladders and musical chairs: Ethnicity and opportunity in post-industrial New York. Politics and Society15 (4): 369-401.
49.
Walzer, M.1983. Spheres of justice: A defense of pluralism and equality. New York: Basic Books.
