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Title: The Effect of Adolescent Neighborhood Poverty on Adult Employment
Resulting in 1 citation.
1. Holloway, Steven R.
Mulherin, Stephen
The Effect of Adolescent Neighborhood Poverty on Adult Employment
Presented: New York, NY, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1999
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Population Association of America
Keyword(s): Employment; Gender Differences; Geocoded Data; Labor Force Participation; Labor Market Outcomes; Neighborhood Effects; Poverty; Racial Differences; Work Experience

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Neighborhood environments have many long-term impacts on America's youth, including the extent and degree of labor market participation. Urban neighborhoods have changed considerably over the last several decades; notably, poverty has become much more spatially concentrated. Concentrated poverty increased dramatically for blacks during the 1970s, and during the 1980s for whites. While recent research examines the effects of neighborhood contexts on various individuals behaviors, labor market outcomes have received inadequate attention. Moreover, existing research has not considered the long-term impacts of growing up in disadvantaged neighborhoods. We take advantage of a recent initiative that geocoded the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) to census tract locations. We examined the effects of adolescent neighborhood poverty on adult employment and idleness, and found that individuals living in poor neighborhoods during adolescence carry a long-term labor market disadvantage. We also found, however, that much of this impact is mediated by accumulated work experience, thus providing a potential avenue for effective policy intervention. The impact of adolescent neighborhood poverty is greater for males than females, while the degree to which attenuated work experience accounts for this effect is greater for females than males.
Bibliography Citation
Holloway, Steven R. and Stephen Mulherin. "The Effect of Adolescent Neighborhood Poverty on Adult Employment." Presented: New York, NY, Population Association of America Meetings, March 1999.