TY  - JOUR
AU  - Holzer,Harry J.
TI  - Informal Job Search and Black Youth Unemployment
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 1860
PY  - 1986
Y2  - March 1986
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1860
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w1860.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Harry J. Holzer
Georgetown University
3520 Prospect Street NW,4th Floor
Washington, DC  20007
E-Mail: hjh4@georgetown.edu
AB  - In this paper I analyze how young black and white unemployed jobseekers use various methods of search, and the employment outcomes which result from their use.The focus is on distinguishing informal search methods (i.e.,friends and relatives or direct application without referral) from more formal ones in analyzing racial differences.The results show that the two informal methods of search account for about 90% of the difference in employment probabilities between white and black youth. This also accounts for 57-71% of the difference in unemployment rates between the two. Furthermore, most of these results reflect differences in the ability of these methods to generate job offers, as opposed to differences in search effort or job acceptance rates. However, our ability to explain these differences through personal, family, and household characteristics was generally quite limited.
ER  -