Does the availability of high-wage jobs for low-skilled men affect welfare expenditures? Evidence from shocks to the steel and coal industries

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Black, DA; McKinnish, TG; Sanders, SG
• 署名单位: Syracuse University; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2727(02)00014-2
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 1921-1942
• 关键词: high-wage jobs; low-skilled men; welfare expenditures; steel industry; coal industry

摘要

We study shocks to the coal and steel industries to measure the effect of long-term changes in demand for low-skilled workers on welfare expenditures. The coal and steel industries have historically paid high wages to low-skilled men. We find a substantial increase in welfare expenditures in response to the collapse of the steel and coal industries in the 1980s, and an even more substantial reduction in welfare expenditures during the coal boom of the 1970s. Additional analysis indicates the reduction in welfare expenditures during the coal boom is due in part to a decline in single-parent households. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.