Search

We use longitudinal data from the Labor Market Health Care Project, obtained from a two-stage cluster probability sample, to examine the likelihood that workers in high poverty, predominately black neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama will obtain and keep a "good" or "primary labor market" job over their life course where the primary labor market is defined as jobs that provide both health insurance and retirement benefits. During household interviews we collect employment history data both retrospectively and prospectively. Contrary to the stereotype that most people in poor neighborhoods do not work, over 95 percent of participants in our study have significant histories of labor force participation and employment. Survival analysis shows that approximately 64 percent workers living in our target neighborhoods will not obtain employment in the primary labor market during their lifetime. We also estimate that more than 52 percent of the workers who do make it into the "good job" labor market will exit this market into either a mediocre job or bad job before they reach retirement age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States blacks have higher death rates than whites, net of age and sex. This difference, the black-white death gap, reflects the difference in health insurance coverage and access to health care. We use data from the 2013 Annual and Economic Survey to examine black-white differences in health insurance coverage nationwide and in the American South. More than one out of five blacks in the U.S. and one out of four blacks in the South do not have health insurance from any source. We also examine the employment histories, health insurance coverage, and health care utilization of 148 black adults selected from high poverty neighborhoods in Mobile County, Alabama using a two-stage cluster sample. Approximately 95% of the study participants are employed, or have been employed in the past. Survival analysis estimates indicate that over their life course approximately 44% of this population never obtains a job that provides them with health insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]