Earning a Living Wage: Metro Differences in Opportunity and Inequality for Adult Males with Low Education Levels. Working Papers on Regional Economic Opportunities

This paper measures the relationship between employment growth and employment opportunities for noncollege-educated males, examining variations across metropolitan areas in the living-wage employment ratio for prime-aged males with at most a high school education (less educated). Living-wage employment is full-time, year-round employment yielding annual earnings at or above the official poverty level for a family of four. Dividing the number of less-educated adult males employed in living-wage jobs by the total number of less-educated adult males creates the living-wage employment ratio. The paper examines whether metro areas with the same economic base have the same living-wage employment ratio for less-educated men; factors influencing variation across metropolitan areas in the living-wage employment ratio for these men; and racial differences in the living-wage employment ratio across and within metropolitan areas. Data come from the University of Minnesota's Integrated Public Use Microdata Sets for 1980 and 1990. Overall, economic growth alone has not been enough to keep living-wage employment opportunities for less-educated adult males from declining. Racial-ethnic inequality is a major problem among less-educated adult males. (Contains 16 references.) (SM)