Getting and Keeping a Good Job: Labor Market Trajectories in High Poverty Neighborhoods.

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]