Word-of-mouth employer recruitment and informal job brokering in an urban labor market

This dissertation investigates the extent of informal employer recruitment in Chicago's low-wage labor market and its consequences for job seekers and employment-training programs.;The first part examines the relationship between employer recruitment and inner city joblessness. Using data from a University of Chicago study which conducted interviews with 185 firms, it is estimated that when an employer is recruiting for an unskilled position, the odds of him/her reporting that word-of-mouth recruitment methods are the most important increases by a factor of three. This suggests that the employment opportunities of inner city residents are determined to a large degree by whom they know.;The second part of this inquiry investigates the relationship between social networks and the ability to find a job through a personal contact. Using data collected by NORC that interviewed 2,495 adult inner city residents, the impact of network structure and composition on finding a job through word-of-mouth is estimated. The findings indicate that there are significant ethnic and racial differences in the way social networks operate to connect inner city job seekers and job vacancies.;The third section estimates the impact of neighborhood poverty on the likelihood of finding a job through the help of a neighbor. Based on interviews conducted by the author with 95 dislocated workers from an inner city printing plant, the results indicate that informal job brokering among neighbors is not closely associated with neighborhood poverty or unemployment.;The fourth essay addresses the impact of informal employer recruitment on the effectiveness of employment and training programs for the disadvantaged. A number of policy alternatives are considered which could address the job brokering needs of the urban poor. The ability to limit employers' dependence on these recruitment methods is considered, and a performance based job placement bounty system is proposed.;The final section includes a detailed account of the author's experiences collecting data from workers who lost their jobs at the Reservoir Press. This discussion focuses on obstacles encountered while conducting research in the private sector and its implications for economic sociology.