Slack Tim, Thiede Brian C, Jensen Leif
Louisiana State University.
The Pennsylvania State University.
Rural Sociol. 2020 Jun;85(2):275-315. doi: 10.1111/ruso.12290. Epub 2019 Jun 17.
High underemployment has been a chronic structural feature of the rural United States for decades. In this paper, we assess whether and how inequalities in underemployment between metropolitan (metro) and nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) areas have changed over the course of the last five decades. Drawing on data from the March Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1968 to 2017, we analyze inequality in the prevalence of underemployment between metro and nonmetro areas of the United States, paying special attention to differences between white, black, and Hispanic workers. Our results show that the underlying risk of underemployment has increased in both metro and nonmetro areas over the last fifty years. Nonmetro workers have consistently faced greater employment hardship compared to their metro counterparts, and these differences cannot be fully explained by differences in population characteristics. Nonmetro ethnoracial minorities have experienced particularly poor labor market outcomes. The disadvantage of ethnoracial minority status and rural residence is especially pronounced for nonmetro black workers, among whom underemployment has remained persistently high with only modest convergence with other workers. Hispanic workers also face elevated risk of underemployment, but we observe a unique convergence between metro and nonmetro workers within this population.
几十年来，高就业不足一直是美国农村长期存在的结构性特征。在本文中，我们评估了大都市和非大都市地区在就业不足方面的不平等在过去五十年中是否以及如何发生了变化。利用1968年至2017年3月当期人口调查（CPS）的数据，我们分析了美国大都市和非大都市地区就业不足发生率的不平等情况，特别关注白人工人、黑人工人和西班牙裔工人之间的差异。我们的结果表明，在过去五十年中，大都市和非大都市地区就业不足的潜在风险都有所增加。与大都市地区的工人相比，非大都市地区的工人一直面临更大的就业困难，而且这些差异不能完全用人口特征的差异来解释。非大都市地区的少数族裔在劳动力市场上的表现尤其不佳。少数族裔身份和农村居住的劣势在非大都市地区的黑人工人中尤为明显，他们的就业不足率一直居高不下，与其他工人的差距仅略有缩小。西班牙裔工人也面临着较高的就业不足风险，但我们观察到在这一群体中，大都市和非大都市地区的工人出现了独特的趋同现象。
