Striving to Work

Abstract

Using data from the 2011–2015 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, this study improves upon standard United States labor force measures to create three new measures which better capture the range of activities and attitudes that signal, at the individual level, an interest in work. When comparing the traditional employment-to-population ratio and the labor force participation rate with these new ‘striving to work’ measures, we find stark racial differences across measures. Hispanics have slightly higher odds of being employed or in the labor force than non-Hispanic whites, yet have similar odds of striving to work. Other vulnerable populations, including non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic persons of other non-white races, females, and persons with disabilities, have significantly lower odds of participation in any of the five measures, compared to their comparison groups and controlling for other covariates. Policy implications are discussed.

Department

Institute on Disability

Publication Date

8-21-2017

Journal Title

Social Indicators Research

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1007/s11205-017-1730-1

Document Type

Article

Rights

Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2017

Link to Full Text

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