Trends in Neighborhood-Level Unemployment in the United States: 1980 to 2000 (ICPSR 1343)

Version Date: Mar 20, 2007

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Principal Investigator(s):
Christopher H. Wheeler, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR01343.v1

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Summary

Although the average rate of unemployment across U.S. metropolitan areas declined between 1980 and 2000, the geographic concentration of the unemployed rose sharply over this period. That is, residential neighborhoods throughout the nation's metropolitan areas became increasingly divided into high- and low-unemployment areas. This paper documents this trend using data on more than 165,000 U.S. Census block groups (neighborhoods) in 361 metropolitan areas over the years 1980, 1990, and 2000. It also examines three potential explanations: (i) urban decentralization, (ii) industrial shifts and declining unionization, and (iii) increasing segregation by income and education. The results offer little support for either of the first two explanations. Rising residential concentration of the unemployed shows little association with changes in population density, industrial composition, or union activity. It does, however, show a significant association with both the degree of segregation according to income as well as education, suggesting that decreases in the extent to which individuals with different levels of income and education live in the same neighborhood may help account for this trend.

Citation

Wheeler, Christopher H. Trends in Neighborhood-Level Unemployment in the United States: 1980 to 2000. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-03-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR01343.v1

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Funding

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Research Division

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Data Collection Notes

  1. These data are part of ICPSR's Publication-Related Archive and are distributed exactly as they arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigators if further information is desired.

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Original Release Date

2007-03-20

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Wheeler, Christopher H. Trends in Neighborhood-Level Unemployment in the United States: 1980 to 2000. ICPSR01343-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2007-03-20. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR01343.v1
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Notes

  • These data are flagged as replication datasets and are distributed exactly as they arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.