Unemployment Mapping

From a theoretical perspective, unemployment is caused by insufficient demand for labor. The influence of unemployment is different in different areas because of deficient demand for labor caused by limited economic activity. “The shift of the economy from industry to services and technological activities has been accompanied by a progressive decline in demand for certain sorts of skills and occupations” (Eriksson et al. 2006, 30). In addition to the loss of good quality manufacturing jobs in certain areas, in places without manufacturing firms, people are completely dependent on the service industry for employment. This requires spending to generate revenue for firms that will also create derived demand for labor. Where there is insufficient spending, there is also deficient employment. There is less money to spend in areas that are less wealthy. While income is supposed to generate wealth, the more economic security one has based on their passive income, property value, and generational wealth, the more likely they are able to access stable employment. 

In the case of Chicago, there is deeply rooted racial subjugation and economic exclusion. The Southside of Chicago “Historically, the vibrant steel and meat-packing industries attracted immigrants to the South Side (mostly from the 1840s to the end of WWI), followed by Southern Black families who came north during the Great Migration in the early twentieth century” (University of Chicago 2020). “In 1980, the community suffered as South Works, a company in the area, laid off employees and closed more of its facilities in the neighborhood. In 1979 there were still 10,000 employees at the plant, which was a 50% reduction, but starting in 1980 thousands more were left unemployed. South Chicago soon fell into economic despair and even the industrial area of South Deering was not hiring. White flight accelerated in the early 1980s, and today South Chicago is one of the more dangerous areas of the city” (Essig et al. 2020). To learn more about the political and social context of this area, see Red Lining in South Side Chicago  storymap .The history of red-lining, credit discrimination, and bad loans given to Black people contribute to the ineffectiveness of homeownership for increasing Black wealth. The legacy of this discrimination continues to impact Black households, as they have disproportionately low levels of generational wealth and oftentimes negative wealth is passed down generations. Wealth begets wealth, so investment in assets whose value appreciates overtime, like a home, will only yield wealth proportional to what is invested. Also, the consequences of red-lining have kept Black people in low income areas with low property values, preventing Black people from generating wealth through homeownership. For these reasons, as well as the reproductive nature of unemployment, the history of discrimination and oppression is relevant in the full understanding of how unemployment and economic insecurity impact each other reciprocally.

Unemployment Rate: This layer shows the levels of unemployment in all geographical areas of Chicago. This is important for understanding unemployment at the local level because this indicator illustrates the extreme disparities across neighborhoods that are geographically close and demographically varying. 

Areas in Chicago next to one another have drastically different unemployment rates. An area in Evanstown with less than 1% unemployment borders an area with 21% unemployment, for example. Unemployment is widespread on the Southside of Chicago. The unemployment rates are dramatically higher than the peak national unemployment during the Great Recession, which was around 10%. The unemployment rate in some parts of Chicago is closer to 30%.

Race and Ethnicity Predominance: This indicator shows the racial predominance of each area. This is relevant for understanding employment at the local level because systemic discrimination and structural economic issues surrounding racial inequity are exemplified between the relationship between race and unemployment.

There is an observable relationship between Black predominance and high rates of unemployment. Particularly in the Southside of Chicago, unemployment is in the double digits and reaches up to 26% in some districts. The West side of Chicago also has a pocket of high unemployment, this is a predominantly Black area as well. There are pockets of high unemployment, up to 12% in some White areas, and exceptions to the high rate of unemployment in predominantly Black areas. Some areas with a primarily Hispanic or Asian population have very low unemployment rates, as low as 2%, while some have higher unemployment rates up to 13%. There is more variability in the unemployment rates for non-Black people, while Black areas are more consistently places with extremely high unemployment rates. 

Median Home Value: This filter illustrates the relative wealth of each area based on income and home value. This is relevant to understanding the relationship of socioeconomic class and financial security with unemployment on a local level.

The Southside of Chicago has very low median home value and income. The areas with lower unemployment rates have high median home value and income. These markers of wealth are also correlated with race. Places with more Black people have significantly lower household values and income, however there is more nuance and variability in areas with a high prevalence of other non-White races.

Intergenerational wealth and homeownership are associated with one another, but homeownership does not beget wealth. Empirical data shows that wealth disparities are present in homeownership. White homeowners are significantly wealthier than Black homeowners (Darity et al. 2018, 12). Also, the likelihood of owning a home is not positively correlated with greater levels of wealth, according to the National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color Project (NASCC) data set (12).

Asthma Prevalence: This layer shows the prevalence of asthma in every geographical area. This is important in the unemployment conversation on a local level because of the interrelatedness between employment statistics and public health.

There are high rates of asthma correlated with the areas with high unemployment rates, low home-values and incomes, which are predominantly Black.

Education: This indicator demonstrates the percentage of the adult population over the age of 25 that has not completed high school. This is important to the topic of unemployment because of the theoretical arguments about human capital in relation to employability. Many argue that educating oneself will ensure that you get a job, however an observation of unemployment on a local level suggests otherwise.

Asthma Prevalence Hot Spots: This layer shows areas of extremely high asthma rates and areas of extremely asthma rates. This deepens the illustrated relationship between public health and economic insecurity, and unemployment.

Outliers in the percentage of the population that is white: This indicator shows where the White population is high or low relative to neighboring areas. This contributes to the understanding of racial implications of unemployment because it shows where unemployment rates are dramatically different based solely on race, not distance.

Recession level unemployment (greater than 10%): This indicator shows areas with unemployment rates that are higher than the national rate during the 2008 Financial Crisis. This is significant because many areas are living in a constant state of depression-level unemployment, which can only be seen by looking at unemployment at a local level. 

Use the layer list in the bottom right corner of the map extent to select a layer to display.

In the case of Chicago, there is deeply rooted racial subjugation and economic exclusion. The Southside of Chicago “Historically, the vibrant steel and meat-packing industries attracted immigrants to the South Side (mostly from the 1840s to the end of WWI), followed by Southern Black families who came north during the Great Migration in the early twentieth century” (University of Chicago 2020). “In 1980, the community suffered as South Works, a company in the area, laid off employees and closed more of its facilities in the neighborhood. In 1979 there were still 10,000 employees at the plant, which was a 50% reduction, but starting in 1980 thousands more were left unemployed. South Chicago soon fell into economic despair and even the industrial area of South Deering was not hiring. White flight accelerated in the early 1980s, and today South Chicago is one of the more dangerous areas of the city” (Essig et al. 2020). To learn more about the political and social context of this area, see Red Lining in South Side Chicago  storymap .The history of red-lining, credit discrimination, and bad loans given to Black people contribute to the ineffectiveness of homeownership for increasing Black wealth. The legacy of this discrimination continues to impact Black households, as they have disproportionately low levels of generational wealth and oftentimes negative wealth is passed down generations. Wealth begets wealth, so investment in assets whose value appreciates overtime, like a home, will only yield wealth proportional to what is invested. Also, the consequences of red-lining have kept Black people in low income areas with low property values, preventing Black people from generating wealth through homeownership. For these reasons, as well as the reproductive nature of unemployment, the history of discrimination and oppression is relevant in the full understanding of how unemployment and economic insecurity impact each other reciprocally. 

As opposed to the dominant theoretical understanding of the labor market as just another commodity, many scholars and economists view labor as a unique aspect of the production process using a socially embedded approach. “In marked contrast to this model there are various heterodox representations that take local labour markets for what they are – imperfect, segmented by non-competing sub-markets, complex arenas in which employers and groups of workers – depending on local circumstances – exercise monopolistic or monopsonistic power, where historically evolved and locally embedded structures of employment, skills, and workplace relations become institutionalised and influence the job dynamics and wage structures of the area” (Eriksson et al. 2006, 43). Empirical evidence shows that unemployment reproduces itself, like a virus (Tcherneva 2017), especially for low-skilled, low-wage jobs with high rates of job turnover. Workers with better quality jobs have more mobilization, and are treated differently by employers. Firms hiring for high-skilled positions are much less likely to look disfavorably at an applicant for having long spells of unemployment (Eriksson et al., 2006). This causes the unemployment problem in certain areas to be self-perpetuating, as firms are less likely to create jobs for people who are chronically unemployed. The problem of labor demand in certain geographic areas has a converse effect on the labor supply of the area. There is evidence in the unemployment of urban areas in the United Kingdom in the 1990s that indicates that worker discouragement is highly common in places with long term unemployment problems. “The impact of high unemployment on populations is a significant decrease in the labor force, meaning that chronically unemployed people are giving up on looking for employment. And third, these processes suggest that high local unemployment gives rise to various supply-side effects that tend to reproduce high unemployment, long-term unemployment and economic inactivity: in other words, a sort of localized hysteresis effect (see Gordon, 2003)” (52). High unemployment rates can also degrade the social structures and human capital, or educational attainment of a population. The dissemination of employment opportunities and information is mitigated as a result of these systems being dismantled. There are detrimental effects of unemployment on the physical and mental health of individuals suffering from this condition. All of these problems, in tandem with the shortage of jobs in a given area, create a depression-level unemployment situation in certain geographical locations.

“Local areas, once hit by severe economic depression, can become caught in a situation where both demand-side and supply-side processes interact to maintain high unemployment locally even though employment conditions in the economy at large have improved” (Eriksson et al. 2005., 48). As it applies to areas of high unemployment in Chicago, certain segments of the population are stuck in a state of economic depression. The spatial and social, political environment of these communities are closely interrelated with the unemployment epidemic.