Metropolitan labor market characteristics and individual earnings attainment: Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics in large United States metropolitan area

This study examines individual earnings attainment for racial/ethnic groups from the perspective of geographic labor markets. In explaining different labor market outcomes, the human capital and status attainment perspective tends to focus on individual attributes, and the labor market segmentation perspective tends to focus on the characteristics of jobs and industries in respect to different reward structures. Integrating these two research traditions, this study argues that individual earnings attainments as a labor market outcome result both from individual attributes, labor market characteristics differentiated across geographic places, and their interactions.;To evaluate this, two empirical tasks are pursued; first, geographic dimensions of labor market segmentation are established following the labor market segmentation literature, and second, their effects on individual earnings attainments are examined. Selected for examination are sixty-five large metropolitan areas and civilian employed male workers for whites, blacks, asians, and hispanics. Using 1990 PUMS data, four dimensions of metropolitan labor market differentiation are derived from factor analyzing the proportions of all employed workers across the cross-classified seven industrial sectors and five occupational segments. Individual earnings are then related to age, education, marital status, immigration, and four dimensions of metropolitan labor market differentiation and population size.;Individual earnings attainments are affected by individual attributes, but the relationships are altered significantly by metropolitan labor market characteristics. Finance-Core Utility and Oligopoly sectors are the two dimensions which most affect earnings attainments and enhance earnings returns to individual attributes, in particular education and age. Also found are racial/ethnic group-specific niches; Finance-Core Utility metropolitan areas are the exclusive higher earnings niche for whites and Oligopoly metropolitan areas provide higher earnings for all groups. As evidenced in the revelation of the importance of metropolitan labor market characteristics on individual earnings attainment, individual's access to favorable jobs across and within particular metropolitan areas is the underlying mechanism for individual and racial/ethnic group earnings differentials. This study concludes that geographic places are an integral part of labor market segmentation and important contexts for individual earnings attainments.