Entry-Level Jobs, Mobility, and Urban Minority Unemployment

This article documents the functional transformation of our older, larger cities from centers of goods processing to centers of information processing. It shows that their entry-level industries, which once provided ready employment for less skilled residents, are declining precipitously. These industries are being replaced, in part, by knowledge-intensive industries whose requisites for employment entail substantial education and, hence, preclude large segments of inner-city minority populations. Urban demographic-employment base mismatches are analyzed, as are their consequences, including rising rates of minority unemployment, labor force nonparticipation, and welfare dependency. Special attention is given to place-targeted welfare programs anchoring unemployed minorities in areas of severe blue-collar job decline, and to new policies that would enhance the spatial mobility of minorities from economically distressed inner cities.