In this paper we review evidence from previous studies of job and employment instability among less-educated young workers, and we provide some new evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Our results indicate that early employment instability contributes somewhat to the low...

In this paper we use data from a recent survey of employers to analyze the job performance and retention rates of recently hired welfare recipients. In particular, we analyze whether or not the employer experienced each of a set of problems with that employee; subjective employer ratings of worker...

This paper examines the determinants of employer demand for welfare recipients using new survey data on employers in four large metropolitan areas. The results suggest a high level of demand for welfare recipients, though such demand appears fairly sensitive to business cycle conditions. A broad...

In this paper I present evidence on the extent to which labor market tightness, and measured by job vacancy rates and other indicators of hiring difficulty, affect the willingness of establishments to hire welfare recipients. From these estimates, I infer the effects of the business cycle on the...

A consistent observation is that black employers tend to hire African Americans at greater rates than their white counterparts. This paper examines the reasons for this pattern using data from the 1992-94 Multi-City Employer Survey, which is a representative sample of firms in Atlanta, Boston,...

In this paper, we analyze employer demand for ex-offenders. We use data from a recent survey of employers to analyze not only employer preferences for offenders, but also the extent to which they check criminal backgrounds in the presence of very imperfect information about the job applicants...

We present evidence that the employment and labor force participation rates of less-educated young black men declined in the 1980?s as well as the 1990?s, despite the very strong economic conditions of the latter period. The secular decline among young black men is much stronger than among other...