Labor demand, metropolitan context, and male youths' activity strategies

Intermetropolitan variations in youth labor demand impose important context ual effects on youths' activities-youths tend to choose work over, or in co mbination with, schooling in metropolitan areas marked by strong demand for youth labor. I argue that youth labor demand is strongest in metropolitan areas (1) with a healthy economy and strong overall labor demand, (2) where the labor supply is not disproportionately composed of adult women or rece nt immigrants, and (3) where the demand for labor disproportionately comes from youth-oriented industries and occupations-for example, low-level jobs in the retail and entertainment industries. Black and White male youths' ac tivities were analyzed with multinomial legit statistical analysis performe d on a multi-level data set constructed from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS). The analysis provides solid empirical support for the argum ent that male youths choose employment over schooling in metropolitan areas with strong aggregate labor demand. Mixed support emerges for the second a nd third arguments. Only poorly educated Black males experience an employme nt disadvantage in areas where recent immigrants constitute a large share o f the labor supply. In metropolitan areas where less-educated women constit ute a disproportionate share of the labor supply, well-educated Black male youths choose continued schooling while less-educated Black male youths cho ose employment. As expected, White male youths living in areas with a youth -oriented mix of industries and occupations choose employment over schoolin g. For Black male youths, however, the effect of job mix depends on educati onal attainment. Black male youths with at least some college are more like ly to be employed, while Black male youths lacking a high school diploma ar e less likely to employed, in metropolitan areas with youth-favorable labor demand. In conclusion, while intermetropolitan variations in youth labor d emand affect youths' activities, educational attainment and race exert impo rtant conditioning effects that cannot be ignored.