Publications [#47874] of Omari H. Swinton

Working Papers

1. Peter Arcidiacono, Alvin Murphy, and Omari H. Swinton, Explaining Cross-Racial Differences in Teenage Labor Force Participation: Results from a General Equilibrium Search Model (January, 2006)
   (last updated on 2006/11/09)

   Abstract:
   White teenagers are substantially more likely to search for employment than their black counterparts. This occurs despite the fact that conditional on race individuals who come from poorer families are more likely to search and black teenagers come from poorer families. While differences in wages between white and black teenagers are small, the unemployment rate for black teenagers is over twice that of white teenagers. We develop a general equilibrium search model where firms are partially able to target their search based upon demographics. Differences in the labor market explain half of the gap in the search rates between black and white teenagers. Removing search targeting substantially closes the gap between black and white unemployment rates.