ABSTRACT
In September 1996, the author's book, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, was published. This chapter describes a new type of poverty in our nation's metropolises: poor, segregated neighborhoods in which a majority of adults are either unemployed or have dropped out of the labor force altogether. What is the effect of these "jobless ghettos" on individuals, families, and neighborhoods? What accounts for their existence? The chapter suggests several factors and concludes with policy recommendations: a mix of public-and-private sector projects is more effective than relying on a strategy of employer subsidies. It is within the context of labor-force attachment that the public policy discussion on welfare reform and family values should be couched. Thus the job prospects of inner-city workers have diminished not only because of the decreasing relative demand for low-skilled labor in the United States economy, the suburbanization of jobs, and the social deterioration of ghetto neighborhoods, but also because of negative employer attitudes.
