December 11, 1998 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Suburbanites enjoy better labor
market outcomes
Regardless of age, sex, race, or ethnicity,
people living in central cities are less likely to be in the labor force and more likely
to be unemployed than those living in the suburbs.
![Labor force participation and unemployment rates of city dwellers and suburbanites, 1997](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120921212113im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1998/Dec/wk2/art05.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
In 1997, 69.9 percent of persons living in the suburbs participated in
the labor force, compared with 64.6 percent of persons living in central cities. The
unemployment rate of suburbanites was 4.0 percent, compared with 7.3 percent for city
dwellers.
The differences in labor-market outcomes for city dwellers and suburbanites are
particularly striking among black workers. Among blacks living in central cities, 60.2
percent were in the labor force in 1997 and 12.5 percent of those in the labor force were
unemployed. This compared with a 73.3 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively, among blacks
living in the suburbs.
These data are a product of the Current
Population Survey. Additional information is available from
"Issues in Labor Statistics: Labor-market Outcomes for City Dwellers and
Suburbanites".
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
.
Read more »