Minority Unemployment, Labor Market Segmentation, and the Failure of Job-Training Policy in New York City

Job-training policy rests on the assumptions that employment opportunities are plentiful, if only everyone were adequately educated, and that increasing the upward mobility of black and Hispanic workers serves the interests of employers as well as employees. These assumptions are challenged. Data are presented suggesting that there simply are not enough decently paying jobs for the number of people who need them. Labor market segmentation and the interest of employers in maintaining a racially segregated work force are dicussed as contributing to the shortage of "good" jobs and as creating barriers to upward mobility for minority workers.