Urban Labor Markets

Authors

Randall W. Eberts, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment ResearchFollow

Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9711-5466

Publication Date

6-1-1994

Series

Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 95-32

**Published Version**

In National Urban Policy: Problems and Prospects, edited by Harold L. Wolman and Elizabeth J. Agius. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1996, pp. 52-73

DOI

10.17848/wp95-32

Abstract

Urban labor markets are characterized by the spatial proximity of households and businesses, which offers firms and workers advantages that lead to more efficient markets, enhanced productivity, and greater economic success. Nevertheless, the nation's city, while generating a large proportion of the nation's wealth, houses much of the nation's economic disadvantaged workers. This paper describes the current conditions of urban labor markets and outlines a national urban policy agenda that addresses these concerns by taking into account cities' spatial dimension. The paper argues that a national urban labor policy should emphasize the effects of physical and informational proximity on growth, the benefits of efficient urban markets, and the importance of the access of workers to urban labor markers. These characteristics distinguish a national urban policy from simply a national policy targeted at people who happen to live in cities.

Issue Date

June 1994

Note

Prepared for Conference on National Urban Policy Report, sponsored by the College of Urban Labor and Metropolitan Affairs, Wayne State University, March 18-19, 1994

Subject Areas

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; Local labor markets; Regional policy and planning; Urban issues