Many theories have been advanced to explain high unemployment rates in the urban black population. None taken alone offers a satisfactory explanation for the high unemployment rate or for interracial unemployment differentials, so there is much room for improved explanation. This dissertation project will interracial differences in the job referral process, with particular attention to the nature and extent of such networks among urban blacks, the effects of neighborhood poverty concentration on network structure and composition, and interracial differences in organization of networks and their effects on employment. The study will combine quantitative analysis of the Urban Poverty and Family Life Survey with 50 in-depth, face-to-face interviews.
