Will employers hire welfare recipients? Recent survey evidence from Michigan
✍ Scribed by Harry J. Holzer
- Book ID
- 101298239
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 87 KB
- Volume
- 18
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0276-8739
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
In this paper we present data from a survey of 900 employers in Michigan during 1997. The survey was designed to gauge employer demand for welfare recipients. The results show that, given the tightness of labor markets there, the prospective demand for recipients is quite high-employers report that 3 percent of all jobs currently, and almost 9 percent over the following year, might be available to unskilled recipients. On the other hand, prospective employment is quite highly correlated with measures of unmet labor demand, implying that much of it could disappear during the next recession. Many of the prospective jobs are also found in establishments to which inner-city minorities might have limited access, such as small or suburban establishments that receive few black applicants or that recruit informally. Absenteeism and basic skill readiness are potential problems, based on jobs filled by recipients to date or those that are potentially available. The effects of a variety of potential policy responses targeted at private employers (such as job placement efforts and tax credits for employment or training) are considered as well.