William Spriggs

This new volume from the National Academy of Social Insurance raises a provocative question that goes to the heart of discussion about social insurance and diversity --to what extent must social insurance programs address historical, social, and economic inequities? The contributors explore issues of equity and diversity in social insurance programs in America today. Some argue that differences in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities have contributed to contemporary "gaps" that span an array of socioeconomic indicators, including education, wealth, life expectancy, and health status. These indicators are central to the administration of social insurance programs because they help determine not only the type and amount of benefits distributed but also whether benefits are received at all. Contributors include: Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) , Kathleen Buto (Johnson & Johnson), Adam Carasso (Urban Institute), Donna Chiffriller (Verizon), Lee Cohen (Social Security A...

This paper considers the returns to attending a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) across three decades. With data from the National Survey of Black Americans, we use matching estimators to determine the treatment e!e ct of HBCU attendance and graduation on a broad measure of labor market outcomes, and two psychological outcomes. We find that the treatment e!e ct of HBCU attendance and graduation are positive with respect to labor market outcomes across three decades, but mixed with respect to black identity and self-esteem. Our results suggest that while HBCUs may not confer pyschological advantages, they continue to a!or d students and graduates relatively superior labor market outcomes.

DOCUMENT RESUME UD 035 290 Cox, Kenya L.C.; Spriggs, William E. Negative Effects of TANF on College Enrollment. Special Research Report. National Urban League, Inc., New York, NY. Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL. SRR-01-2002 2002-06-00 23p. National Urban League, 120 Wall Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10005. Tel: 212-558-5300; Fax: 212-344-5332; e-mail: info@nul.org; Web site: http://www.nul.org. Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. Blacks; *Enrollment Trends; Females; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Poverty; *Welfare Recipients; Womens Education *Personal Responsibility and Work Opp Recon Act; State Policy; *Temporary Assistance for Needy Families This report examines the impact of the 1996 Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) on the college enrollment of welfare recipients who completed high school. The report highlights the lower college enrollment rates among recipients in the postTemporary Assistance for Needy F...

We assess whether occupational segregation in metropolitan labor markets is associated with the wages of, and contributes to racial/ethnic wage disparities among, less-educated men. To measure occupational segregation in metropolitan low wage markets, we create a segregation index measuring segregation between white, black, and Latino male high school-only educated workers and high school dropouts in 95 metropolitan labor markets utilizing a unique dataset of the structural characteristics of the ninety-five largest US metropolitan labor markets. We use regression, fixed effects, and generalized least squares estimation techniques to test whether this index is associated with wages and racial wage inequality among these men. The analyses reveal that in metropolitan labor markets characterized by more racial and ethnic segmentation in the low wage market, wages are lower among black and Latino men in particular, and racial-ethnic wage disparities among similarly less-educated white, black, and Latino men are higher.

Page 1. The Effect of Federal Contractor Status on Racial Differences in Establishment-Level Employment Shares: 1979-1992 By WILLIAm M. RODGERS III AND WILLIAm E. SPRIGGs * Research by Joleen Kirschenman and Kathyn Neckerman (1991), Margery Turner et al. ...

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we compare the pay of workers employed on the minimum wage contour to the pay of similar workers in other jobs. We also examine whether the minimum wage increases of 1990 and 1991 narrow the pay gap. We find that characteristics of minimum wage contour workers explain most of their relative pay disadvantage; however, from 1986 to 1990, a residual wage gap of 5.0 to 5.8 percent emerged. The increases in the minimum wage help to slow the gap's widening.

This paper considers the returns to attending a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) across three decades. With data from the National Survey of Black Ameri- cans, we use matching estimators to determine the treatment e!e ct of HBCU attendance and graduation on a broad measure of labor market outcomes, and two psychological outcomes. We find that the treatment e!e ct of

RACIAL RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION has been characterized by Taeuber as "a pervasive aspect of American urban life."' Recent studies have found that residential segregation by race does not vary with, and is more extensive than, segregation by income, occupation, or educational attainment. Thus, the study of residential segregation is an important link, both as cause and effect, in an understanding of many urban problems.2 For instance, a major implication of residential segregation is that it significantly lowers the probability of Afro-American home ownership or purchase relative to otherwise comparable whites.3 An intuitive notion of segregation is the systematic location of a phenomenon. Writing in 1947,4 Jahn, Schmid, and Schrag set forth what has become the basis for the characteristics a segregation index should have. A segregation index should be: (1) expressed as a single quantitative value so as to facilitate such statistical procedures as comparison, classification, and correlation; (2) relatively easy to compute;

The defeat of the agrarian South ensured the spread of industrial capitalism in late nineteenth-century America and began the transformation of significant social relationships into commodity relationships. It thereby began to differentiate the emerging society along new lines, so that people's chances would soon be determined by the ownership of the means of production in an industrial, capitalist context. A sense of alienation was brewing on the part of the farming and laboring class: an alienation from the product of their work. Furthermore, the farming class, which had known continual expansion into endless land, found by the late ninteenth century that there was no new land. Farmers' risks multiplied and mechanisms for alleviation grew more unreliable. Thus, the period became marked with a growing, insurgent agrarianism,' which evolved essentially as a class movement. The neoteric freedmen were also thrust into a new economic order. Once capital himself in an agrarian-based capitalist society, the ex-slave found himself in a preindustrial capitalist system, where class was determined by the ownership of land and by access to the resources introduced by the industrial, capitalist hub. In this situation, the Afro-American had to conceive an economic class identity. At the same time, Afro-Americans were continuing to develop concepts of their own racial identity. As the farmers' movement of this time was, in general, a class revolt, a study of the Colored Farmers' Alliance can provide evidence on both class and race identity as perceived by Afro-Americans. The farmer movement of the late nineteenth century was spearheaded by various farm organizations: the Patrons of Husbandry or the Grange, the Agricultural Wheel and, later, the National Farmers' Alliance or the Northern Alliance, the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union or the Southern Alliance, and the Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union. Of the four organizations, the least is known about the Colored Farmers' Alliance. What was to become the Colored Farmers' National Alliance and Cooperative Union began with the formation of a local alliance in Houston County, Texas, on December 11, 1886. The Alliance of Colored Farmers of Texas was formed by a union of the Houston County group and various other farm clubs later in December of that same year. Richard Manning Humphrey, a white Baptist minister

Current debates about crime and violence center on the effectiveness of sentencing reforms and incarceration in reducing crime. These punishment approaches to crime often ignore the evidence that employment also is an effective deterrent to crime and that in many respects crime can be viewed as a consequence of blocked legitimate earnings opportunities (Myers, 1983). There are important linkages between

RACIAL RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION has been characterized by Taeuber as "a pervasive aspect of American urban life."' Recent studies have found that residential segregation by race does not vary with, and is more extensive than, segregation by income, occupation, or educational attainment. Thus, the study of residential segregation is an important link, both as cause and effect, in an understanding of many urban problems.2 For instance, a major implication of residential segregation is that it significantly lowers the probability of Afro-American home ownership or purchase relative to otherwise comparable whites.3 An intuitive notion of segregation is the systematic location of a phenomenon. Writing in 1947,4 Jahn, Schmid, and Schrag set forth what has become the basis for the characteristics a segregation index should have. A segregation index should be: (1) expressed as a single quantitative value so as to facilitate such statistical procedures as comparison, classification, and correlation; (2) relatively easy to compute;

This paper considers the returns to earning a baccalaureate degree from a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) relative to a non-HBCU for black Americans. With data from the National Survey of Black Americans, we use propensity score matching estimators to estimate the treatment effect of graduating from an HBCU on direct labor market outcomes, and on psychological outcomes that indirectly increase wages. We find that the treatment effect of graduating from an HBCU relative to a non-HBCU is positive with respect to labor market and psychological outcomes across three decades. As our direct labor market outcome measure reflects permanent earnings, our results suggest that as HBCUs afford graduates relatively superior long-run returns they continue to have a compelling educational justification, as the labor market outcomes of their graduates are superior to what they would have been had they graduated from a non-HBCU.

ABSTRACT Comment on Nan L. Maxwell, "The Effect on Black-White Wage Differences of Differences in the Quantity and Quality of Education," "Industrial and Labor Relations Review," Vol. 47, No. 2 (January 1994). (Author's abstract.)

Current debates about crime and violence center on the effectiveness of sentencing reforms and incarceration in reducing crime. These punishment approaches to crime often ignore the evidence that employment also is an effective deterrent to crime and that in many respects crime can be viewed as a consequence of blocked legitimate earnings opportunities (Myers, 1983). There are important linkages between