What employers want : job prospects for less-educated workers /

This monograph is of limited utility and will best serve as an entry point for some graduate students and faculty researchers. It endeavors to calculate employer demand for less educated and skilled workers. The study hypothesizes four factors to account for high urban unemployment rates: skill demand, deindustrialization, relocations, and discrimination. Data is drawn from The Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, which conducted surveys in Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. The bulk of the monograph deals with statistical analyses that appear to demonstrate that "skills, the locations of firms and workers, and race and gender ..." are critical in hiring and pay. The standard academic escape clause of the need for further research is noted: "but many of these findings are open to interpretations other than the ones we have offered. Nor have we conclusively proven the hypotheses described in chapter 1." Statistical findings are summarized in appendixes; references are extensive and timely. For comprehensive graduate and research collections. E. Owens emeritus, Western Washington University