The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
Impact on Workers and Community of a Plant Shutdown in a Depressed Area B u lle tin N o. 1264 UNITED S T A T E S DEPARTM EN T O F LABO R la m e s P . M itc h e ll, S e c r e t a r y BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner I m p a c t o n W o r k e r s S h u t d o w n in a n d a C o m m u n ity D e p r e s s e d o f a P la n t A r e a Bulletin No. 1264 June 1960 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR James P. Mitchell, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Ewan Clague, Commissioner For sate by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D.C. Price 40 cents P reface This survey of the impact o f a major plant shutdown on the workers and their community was conducted by Dr. Richard C. Wilcock of the Institute of Industrial Relations of the University of Illinois, for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The primary focus of the study is on a statistical examination of the employ ment and unemployment experience o f the laid-off workers, but it also provides a case history of a few years in the life of a community already subject to chronic unemployment and faced with the loss of its major industry. Contents Page Chapter I. The problem and the design of the study............................. The Mt. Vernon labor market area . . . . .............................................. The shutdown of the Pressed Steel Car Co. s h o p s ........................ Scope of study and definitions.................................................. ................. 1 1 3 4 Chapter II. Characteristics and employment experience of the displaced workers . . . T. . . ............... ................................................................ General characteristics of the laid-off w o rk e rs............................... Sex and age........... ................................ ....................... ..................... .. Education............. ....................... ............ .. . . . . . . . ................................... Marital status and children under 1 8 , . . . . .......................... .. Home ownership A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ................................. Years of residence and place of residence.............................•••• Employment experience after the shutdown...................... Industry and area of employment...................... .................................. Length of time in finding jobs. •••••................................................. Occupation and skill level. ............................... ................. Earnings and income comparisons........................ .............................. Comparison with car shop j o b s . . . .......... ............................................ The probelm of the underemployed •................................... .. Self-employment. ................................. ............................................... ... . . Employment status of the older worker ........................ .. 6 6 6 7 7 9 9 10 10 H 12 13 15 17 18 18 Chapter HI. Decisions on where to live and work ............................... .. Why nonmigrants remained in Mt. Vernon . ........................................ Why the out-of-town workers kept their homes in Mt. Vernon.. Why the migrants moved with their fa m ilie s..................................... Comparison of employed nonmigrants with those working in other areas ....................................................................................... ............ 20 20 22 23 Chapter IV. Unemployment and unemployment insurance......... .. Unemployment trends in the Mt. Vernon area after the shutdown .............................................. .............. .............................. Unemployment of car shop w o rk e rs.............................................. Comparison of the short-term and long-term u n e m p lo y e d ...... Those unemployed at time of su r v e y ............. .................•••••••••• Those out of labor force at time of survey .••.••••••••••••••. Age, education, and duration of u n e m p lo y m e n t........................... The role of unemployment insurance ..................................................... Economic effects of unemployment insurance................................. Opinions on significance of unemployment insurance for the community............................................................................................ 26 Chapter V. 25 26 27 29 30 30 30 33 35 37 Summary A p p e nd ixes Appendix A. Appendix B. 43 Design of study and sampling ............................... Subsample of mail questionnaire nonrespondents . . . . . Analysis of subsample of nonrespondents ........................ Sampling design for interview s............................................ 44 45 46 Mail questionnaire •••••••••••........... ........................... .. Personal interview schedule................................... .. 50 52 Charts Page 1. 2. 3. Proportions of workers earning more than $80 a week, car 14 shop job and current job, June 1956 ............... .............................. Estimated total weekly family incomes, by employment and residence status, June 1956 .................................................................... 16 Proportions unemployed 6 or more months after car shop layoff, by age and education level, April 1956 ......... ................... 32 Ta b le s Employment and residence status of laid-off w o r k e r s.,.................. Laid-off workers by resident status, age, and educational achievement, April 1956............. .............................................................. 3. Laid-off workers employed at time of survey, by industry group and by migrant status, April 1956 ........... . ............................ 4. Laid-off workers employed at time of survey, by residence and employment status and by occupational group, April 1956. 5. Laid-off workers by migrant status and by usual gross weekly earnings in car shop jobs and in jobs held at time of survey, June 1956 .......................................................................... .............................. 6. Attitude of laid-off workers now in full-time employment, toward current job and car shop job, June 1956 ............. ............ 7. Reasons given by laid-off workers employed in Mt. Vernon area for preferring to stay in Mt. Vernon, multiple responses, June 1 9 5 6 .................................................. ............................. 8. Reasons given by out-of-town workers as to why they kept family in Mt. Vernon, June 1956 ........................................................ 9. Reasons given by migrants for moving families from Mt. Vernon, July 1956 .......................... ............................................................ 10. Estimates of civilian labor force, Jefferson, Wayne, and Hamilton Counties, 111. , April 195.4-April 1956................. 11. Laid-off workers by duration of unemployment and by migrant status, April 1956 ....................................................................................... 12. Laid-off workers, by duration of unemployment and by age group, April 1956 ........... ...........................................................•*♦**«. . 13. Laid-off workers by duration of unemployment and by educational achievement, April 1956 ....................................... .. 14. Employment at Pressed Steel Car Co. and unemployment compensation paid to all unemployed workers, Jefferson County, 111., 1953-54, by month........................................................... 15. Laid-off workers drawing unemployment benefits by number of weeks of benefits and by migrant status, April 1956 . . . . . . . . . 16. Laid-off workers by places they sought employment while unemployed and by migrant status, June 1956.......................... .. - 1. Stratified sample for personal interviews, June-July 1956............. - 2 . - Analysis of use of alternates in personal interview sample . . . . . > > 1. 2. 5 8 11 13 15 17 21 23 24 28 28 31 33 34 35 37 47 48 Chapter I.The Problem and the Design of the Study Since World War II, the United States as a whole has enjoyed a period of gen eral and widespread prosperity. Some communities and geographic r e g i o n s , however, have not experienced the eco nomic growth and high employment levels of the rest of the Nation. Shifts in de mand for products, technological change, depletion of natural r e s o u r c e s, and outmigration of industrial plaints have created localized pools of unemployment. In some areas, high rates of unemploy ment have per sisted over relatively long periods of tim e. Typically, these socalled depressed areas have been sm all cities and towns with little diversity in sources of employment, often depending heavily upon one industry. t u n i t i e s for its citizens. The labor surplus had r e s u l t e d from a long run decline in employment in coal mining, a s l o w rate of industrial growth, and reluctance on the part of workers to m igrate. The primary focus of the study is on a statistical examination of the employment and unemployment experi ences, during a 2 - to 3-year period, of the workers laid off as a result of the plant shutdown. This study, then, is a case history of a short period of time in the life of a community struggling to provide adequate j o b opportunities for its citizens. Th e M t. V e r n o n la b o r m a rk e t a re a This study, therefore, grew out of concern with the persistence of unem ployment in such labor market areas during periods of low national unemploy ment. Although no single case study can provide sufficient data to account for the existence of depressed areas, a d e t a i l e d study of such an area may contribute to an understanding of the problem. Further, although situations differ g r e a t l y among such areas, an analysis of the effects of continuing de pressed conditions and the ways in which workers respond to these conditions in one community may provide helpful in formation to those concerned with either a sim ilar problem in another community or the general problem of such depres sions. This report is an account of the ef fects on a sm all community, Mt. Vernon, 111. , where unemployment already ex isted, of the shutdown of its l a r g e s t industrial p l a n t and the community’ s struggle to provide adequate job oppor The Mt. Vernon area was chosen for study for several reasons. F irst, Mt. Vernon was an important industrial and trading c e n t e r in southern Illinois, a region with serious economic problems because of employment declines in bitu m inous-coal mining and in agriculture, resulting in urban unemployment, rural underemployment, a n d relatively lo w average incom es. Second, the shutdown of the P ressed Steel Car Co. car shops, which normally had employed more than half of the labor market area* s manufac turing worker s in the production of ra il road freight cars and truck trailers, offered a d r a m a t i c e x a m p l e of the problems resulting from the loss of in dustry in a community. Finally, data concerning the workers who had moved away from the community could be ob tained through the cooperation of the Brotherhood of Railway C a r m e n , the principal union in the shutdown plant which had r e t a i n e d an office in Mt. 1 Vernon and had a file of current add r e s s e s for almost all of its mem bers. At one time, the Mt. Vernon economy, based upon coal mining, manufacturing, and trade, had been fairly diver se. Since the decline or the bituminous-coal indus try in the midtwenties, however, there had been a tendency toward an inadequate number of job opportunities. 1 Although the oil industry (crude oil extraction) expanded rapidly in the post-World War II period, it p r o v i d e d relatively few new jobs for local workers. In addi tion, manpower requirements in agri culture, which had always been a major source of employment in the area, had decreased. Full utilization of the area labor force, therefore, depended upon an expansion in industries other than min ing and agriculture, which had not oc curred. The s h u t d o w n of its major industrial plant aggravated this general problem for Mt. Vernon and its labor market area. The 1950 C e n s u s shows an urban p o p u l a t i o n for Jefferson County of 15, 600 (all in the city of Mt. Vernon), a r u r a l nonfarm population of 9,437. and a rural farm population of 10,855. 2 By the summer of 1956, when the study was m a d e , the estimated total county population was 35, 900, 3 no change from 1950. The population of greater Mt. Vernon ( i n c l u d i n g all nonfarm areas immediately adjacent to the city) was estimated at 22, 000. 4 Nearly all (about 99 percent) Jefferson County r e s i d e nt s were n a t iv e -b o r n Americans, with a great majority born and raised in the immediate vicinity. Most were also of the same g e n e r a l ethnic stock, and their families, two or more generations back, h a d migrated from the same areas in the Border and Southeastern States. In A pril 1950, the leading sources of employment in the county were agri culture (20 p e r c e n t ) , manufacturing (19.7 percent), t r a d e (19. 3 percent), an d transportation and communication (8.6 p e r c e n t ) . 5 The once important c o a l-m in in g industry provided only 5 p e r c e n t of the employment. At that 2 time, 1,215 workers, o r 9 percent of the civilian labor force of 13, 527, were unemployed. 6 In A pril 1956, unemploy ment was estimated at a little over 10 percent of the labor f o r c e . 7 At both dates, employment in freight-car build ing w a s a s i g n i f i c a n t factor in the situation. In 1950, the car shops had a low level of employment, and by April 1956, they had been permanently closed for 2 years. In addition to chronic unemployment, the area typically h ad a large amount of underemployment; that is, many work ers had low earnings either because of insufficient work or because they were in jobs below their level of training and skill. Further, because m a n y of the farms were small (frequently less than 10 acres) with much of the soil of re l atively poor quality, many farm ers and farm workers depended upon off-farm work to supplement their meager farm income. Since the traditional sources of off-farm w o r k were factories and mines, the decline in coal-mining em ployment an d periodic downswings in industrial employment resulted in in- ^ m p lo y m e n t in Illin o is c o a l m i n i n g f e ll f r o m 8 5 ,0 0 0 i n 1920 t o 1 5 ,0 0 0 i n 1 9 5 4 . In 195 4, th e y e a r th e M t . V e rn o n c a r shops c l o s e d , t h e r e w e r e a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2 0 ,0 0 0 p e r s o n s u n e m p l o y e d i n t h e 16 s o u t h e r n m o s t c o u n t ie s .o f I llin o is . A p p lic a n t an d C la im a n t S u r v e y : S o u th e rn Illin o is A r e a , M a y -J u ly 1954, Illin o is D e p a rtm e n t o f L a b o r , 1954, 19 p p . (P ro c e s s e d ). 2U . S . D e p a rtm e n t o f C o m m e rc e , B u re a u o f t h e C e n s u s , C e n s u s o f P o p u la tio n , 1950, v o l. I I , p t. 13, p p . 56, 58, 188, 194. 3E s t i m a t e s o f P o p u l a t i o n f o r S t a t e E c o n o m i c A r e a s , C o u n tie s , a n d C it ie s in I ll i n o i s , p . 26: 1955 t o 1 95 7. (A r e p o r t b y th e P o p u la tio n R e s e a rc h an d T r a in in g C e n te r, U n iv e r s it y of C h ic a g o , to th e D e p a r t m e n t o f P u b lic H e a lth , S ta te o f I l l i n o i s . ) M im e o g ra p h e d . 4F r o m a n I n d u s t r i a l S u r v e y p r e p a r e d b y t h e M t. V e r n o n C h a m b e r o f C o m m e rc e in 1956. M u c h o f th e e x p a n s io n o f th e c it y r e s u lt e d fro m th e a n n e x a t io n o f s u b d iv is io n s b y th e c it y o f M t. V e r n o n . ’ C e n s u s o f P o p u la tio n , o p . c it . , p . 172. ‘ ib id . 7L a b o r M a r k e t R e p o r t s . R e s e a rc h and S ta t is t ie s S e c tio n . Illin o is S t a t e E m p lo y m e n t S e r v ic e . sufficient nonfarm job opportunities for rural residents.8 During the summer of 1956, the Mt. Vernon Chamber of Commerce esti mated fewer than 2,000 w o r k e r s i n manufacturing j o b s in the area,9 with a p p r o x i m a t e l y 1,000 e m p 1o y e d in durable goods, largely in the fabricated m e t a l s , electrical, and nonelectrical machinery industries. Major products were automotive parts, stoves, furnaces, transformers, radiators, neon s i g n s , brooders, and concrete culverts. Only two firms employed more than 250 work ers. Almost all nondurable goods em ployment ( a b o ut 850 workers) was in shoes, apparel, and food products, with only the shoe firm having more than 250 employees. Total area employment (about 1, 950 workers) in manufacturing in m id -1956 was low, compared with that of 3, 300 in 1947, 3,350 in March 1949, and 2,155 in March 1950. 10 When in operation, the car shops normally employed be tween 1,100 and 2,200 workers, account ing for one-third to more than one-half of the area*s industrial workers. The plant, therefore, was by far the largest single i n d u s t r i a l employer, and its closing made a large gap in the area1s industrial job opportunities. T h e scarcity of j o b opportunities, even before the car shop shutdown, con tributed to a r e l a t i v e l y low median family income in Jefferson County. In 1950, the annual median family income was $2,473, compared with a median of $3,627 for the entire State. 11 The shutdow n of the Pressed Steel Car Co. shops Although the car shops had employed as many as 3,300 workers during their World War II p e a k production, their postwar employment had never greatly exceeded 2,000, The plant, closed dur ing part of 1950 and 1951, o p e r a t e d continuously from its reopening in 1951 until the final shutdown early in 1954. Employment fluctuated widely, however, because of the unevenness of contract orders, characteristic of the industry. Between February 1953 and March 1954, layoffs occurred in all months but four. By March, production had ceased and only a few maintenance men and watch men remained. The p a r e n t company s h o r 11y thereafter announced that the plant would not reopen and that the prop erty would be sold. Until this announcement, many work ers had b e l i e v e d that the car shops would reopen. During its long history, the shops had been closed a number of times and during the depression of the 1930*s, they did not operate for several years. Because of this, some workers c o n t i n u e d to expect a resumption of freight-car b u i l d i n g , even after the announcement of the closing and up until much of the machinery and equipment was sold at auction in the spring o f 1956. Of the 1,908 production and mainte nance w o r k e r s e m p l o y e d i n 1953, approximately 500 w e r e permanently laid off in the first half and 300 in the s e c o n d half of that year, and 1,100 early in 1954. 12 A ll were members of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen or of the International Association of Ma chinists. Although the total impact of a major industrial layoff on a community and its population can never be measured com pletely, the significant problems and 8F o r a s t u d y o f o f f - f a r m w o rk b y ru ra l r e s i d e n t s of s o u th e rn Illin o is , s e e M . A . H o r o w it z , F a r m a n d N o n -F a r m W o rk b y O p e n C o u n t r y R e s id e n t s in T w o S o u th e rn Illin o is C o u n t i e s , U rb a n a : U n iv e r s it y o f Illin o is , (In s titu te o f L a b o r a n d I n d u s t r ia l R e la t io n s ) N ovem ber 1948. T h e tw o c o u n t ie s s t u d ie d a r e im m e d ia t e ly a d ja c e n t to J e f f e r s o n C o u n ty . 9Labor Market R eports, op. cit. 10U . S . D e p a r t m e n t o f C o m m e r c e , B u r e a u o f th e C e n s u s , C o u n ty a n d C i t y D a ta B o o k , 1952, p . 159. (1953) l l I b i d . , p p . 1 4 7 , 155. “ D a t a w e r e o b t a in e d f r o m L o d g e N o . 4 2 3 , B r o t h e r h o o d o f R a ilw a y C a r m e n a n d L o d g e 1417, In t e r n a t io n a l A s s o c ia t io n o f M a c h in is t s . D a t e s o f la y o ff and n u m b e rs in v o lv e d w e re c o n f ir m e d b y th e q u e s t io n n a ir e r e s u l t s . T h e n u m b e rs a re g i v e n a s la y o f f s b e c a u s e l e s s t h a n 3 p e r c e n t o f th e s e p a r a t io n s i n 1953 a n d 1954 w e r e q u it s . 3 their general magnitude are clearly ap parent in a community as small as Mt. Vernon. Large-scale unemployment affects the incomes and s t a n d a r d of living not only of the families whose breadwinners are without work, but also of all those who do business with them. Although this study emphasizes the eco nomic impact of the shutdown and the post shutdown problems facing the work ers and the community, there were also serious social and psychological effects. The underlying problem, 13 of c o u r s e , was the persistence of unemployment during a period when the overall unem ployment of the Nation was low. Scope of study and d e fin itio n s Data were obtained by means of mail questionnaires and per sonal interviews, 14 An attempt was made to send question naires to all who had been regular pro duction and maintenance employees of the Pressed Steel Car C o .'s Mt. V er non plant and who had left the company in 1953 o r 1954. T h e r e were 1,908 workers meeting this definition, but 72 persons could not be reached because their addresses were unknown. A total of 1,453 returned the questionnaires by mail and 86 additional questionnaires were completed through per sonal follow ups. The data presented in this report, therefore, are based on a total of 1, 539 questionnaires, or 80.7 percent of the survey population. Subsequently, interviews were held with 400 of this group of workers, rep resenting 21 percent of the population being studied and 19. 2 percent of the nonrespondents. Further details of the manner in which the samples were drawn are given in appendix A. Union records showed that members were d i v i d e d almost equally between those 45 years of age and over and those under 45, and this was confirmed by questionnaire results. Analysis revealed.significantly different proportions between the two age groups among the employed, the underemployed, and the unemployed in the Mt. V e r n o n labor market area and among those employed in other labor market areas. For this 4 reason, workers were grouped as (1) the Mt. Vernon employed--those w i t h full-time jobs in the Mt. Vernon labor market area and residing in Mt. Vernon or on rural routes served by the Mt. Vernon Post Office; (2) the area em p l o y e d--those w i t h full-time jobs in the local labor market area, but with the post office addresses other than Mt. Vernon; (3) the underemployed--those living and working in the area; (4) the unemployed--those living within the local area; (5) the out-of-town workers—those who still had home addresses w i t h i n the Mt. Vernon labor market area, al though they were w o r k i n g elsewhere (some of these men commuted e v e r y day, but most of them v i s i t e d home only on weekends); (6) the m igrants-those who were working elsewhere and had moved with their families to areas where they had jobs and who no longer had home a d d r e s s e s in Mt. Vernon; and (7) those who had withdrawn from the labor force (table 1). The two groups fully employed living in the area were separated for compar ison between those living in Mt. Vernon and those in the ' • h i n t e r l a n d , " The underemployed were placed in a separate category because significant differences in experiences and attitudes were ex pected between them and the fully em ployed, on the one hand, and between the underemployed and the unemployed, on the o t h e r . No stratification w a s necessary with respect to employment, underemployment, or unemployment of out-of-town w o r k e r s and migrants, since these workers almost w i t h o u t exception were fully employed. Most p e r s o n s whose questionnaire returns indicated a p e r m a n e n t with drawal from the labor force were not interviewed, s i n c e the interview was focused upon the workers' decisions in their search for work both locally and in other l a b o r market areas. A few persons not in the labor force were in terviewed, however, some of whom had 13F o r m o r e d e t a i l e d d i s c u s s i o n o f t h e p r o b le m s a n d o f th e q u e s t io n s a s k e d th e l a i d - o f f w o r k e r s , s e e a p p e n d ix A . u T h e q u e s t io n n a ir e a n d i n t e r v i e w s c h e d u le s a r e r e p r o d u c e d in a p p e n d ix B . retired between the time they completed the questionnaire and the t i m e of the interview; others who had not responded to the questionnaire were drawn in the nonrespondent section o f the interview sample. TA BLE 1. The questionnaires and the interviews with laid-off workers provide the basic data for the s t udy. Some additional data were obtained through interviews with a selected group of businessmen, public officials, and civic leaders. Employment and residence status of laid -o ff w o rk ers1 Interview sample., Ju n e-Ju ly 1956 Questionnaire sample^ M arch-M ay 1956 Employment and residence status Total .............................................. Mt. Vernon em ployed-job in a re a and Mt. Vernon a d d r e s s ........................ A rea em ployed--job in a re a and non-Mt. Vernon a d d r e s s ........................ U nder employed- - j ob and residence in a r e a . . . . . . . U nemployed- - re sidence in a r e a ...................... ................... Out-of-town' w o rk e rs.................. M igran ts.................... ............ ........ Out of labor fo r c e ........................ Returns by m ail2 Non respondents contacted3 O riginal s am ple4 Total respondents Interviews com pleted5 P e r cent Num ber P e r cent Num ber P er cent Num ber P er cent 86 100 1, 539 100 333 683 400 100 16 28 32 266 17 93 23 120 30 267 19 24 28 291 19 56 14 90 22 169 12 4 5 173 11 42 11 35 9 175 195 275 134 12 13 19 9 4 12 4 10 5 14 5 11 10 12 13 34 50 56 15 8 13 14 4 Num ber P e r cent 1,453 100 238 Num ber 179 207 279 144 12 14 18 9 41 49 52 — — xOf a total population of 1,908 laid -off w orkers, 455 failed to return the m ail questionnaire. Of the 455, 86 p ersons were subsequently contacted and filled out the m ail questionnaire. These were then added to the original 1,453 who had responded by m ail for a total "re sp o n se " of 1, 539- F rom this group, a sam ple of 400 was selected for interview, 75 of whom were originally nonrespondents. 2Although the questionnaires w ere returned over a 2-month period, late M arch to late May 1956, a m ajority were received during A pril. 3Excluding 72 nonrespondents who could not be reached by m ail and whose current a d d re sse s could not be o b t a i n e d , a sam ple of 86 nonrespondents w a s selected and those selected completed questionnaires when v isited by in terview ers. 4The sam pling distribution was based on data from the m ail questionnaire return s. D etails a r e given in appendix A. *T he d i ffe r e n c e b e tw e e n the d is tr ib u tio n o f in t e r v ie w e e s and the o r i g i n a l in t e r v ie w s a m p le r e s u lt s f r o m b o th the d is tr ib u tio n o f n o n r e s p o n d e n ts in to the o th e r c a t e g o r ie s and s o m e sh iftin g o f statu s by in t e r v ie w e e s b e tw e e n the tim e th ey c o m p le t e d q u e s tio n n a ir e s and the tim e o f in t e r v ie w . 6The rem ainder of the original sam ple was drawn from the questionnaire n o n r e s p o nd e nt groups. footnote 1 above. See 5 Chapter 1L Characteristics and Employment Experience ot the Displaced Workers Before the shutdown, the production and maintenance w o r k e r s at the Mt. Vernon car shops were employed full time w i t h regularly scheduled w o r k weeks. More than 2 years later, of the 1,539 workers who responded to the mail questionnaires15 concerning their employment experience after the layoff, almost one-third (32 p e r c e n t ) w e r e either unemployed, underemployed, or out of the labor force. A n o t h e r 32 percent were fully employed, although in other labor market areas. Only a little more than one-third of the re s pondents (36 percent), therefore, h ad full-time jobs in the Mt. Vernon labor market area. Many of those employed in Mt. Vernon, f u r t h e r m o r e , were working full time and at the same or a higher skill level, but were earning substantially less than they had earned in the car shops. G eneral characteristics of the la id -o ff w o rk e rs For purposes of analysis, the ques tionnaire respondents w e r e classified with respect to employment status and their place of residence. In the anal ysis, it was found that significant re l a t i o n s h i p s existed between certain p e r s o n a l characteristics, on the one hand, and employment and migration experience, on the other. Sex and age Of the 1,908 production and main tenance w o r k e r s laid o f f at the car s h o p s , only 20 were women;16 there fore, no attempt was made to analyze 6 postshutdown employment experience by sex. Age was a significant variable in the study. Fifty-two percent of the respond ents, but only 48 percent of those still in the labor force, were 45 y e a r s of age or over. Of those still in the labor force, only 4 percent were under age 25 and 20 percent were between 25 and 35. The largest proportions w e r e in the 35-54 age bracket, with 28 percent between 35 and 45 years, and 28 per cent from 45 through 54. The remain ing 20 p e r c e n t were 55 or older, of whom 3 percent were 65 or more years of age (table 2). The relatively high average age of the laid-off workers is of significance because older workers, in g e n e r a l , have more difficulty in finding jobs than do younger workers. Further, t h o s e over age 45 were long-service workers at the car shops; 76 percent had been employed there at least 10 years, and 35 percent, 30 years or more. Except for severed previous temporary shut downs, most of these workers had not faced the problem of job seeking for many years, and now found themselves in the labor market applying for indus trial jobs that were open for the most part only to workers under 45. In general, younger workers w e r e more successful in f i n d i n g full-time jobs than the older workers. The area e m p l o y e d had the highest proportion (64 percent) under 45 years of age, and the migrants the next highest proportion 15S e e a p p e n d i x B . l6 l l o f t h e 1 , 5 3 9 m a i l s p o n d e n ts w e re w o m e n . q u e s t io n n a ir e re (59 percent). Fifty-three percent of the Mt, Vernon employed and the out-oftown workers were under age 45, while of th e underemployed and th e u n e m ployed, only 41 and 30 percent, respec tively, we re under 45 y e a r s of age. Only a few of t h o s e w h o had left the labor force (11 percent) we re under 45 and these we re either in military serv ice or were physically disabled. Education At the time of the survey, in addi tion to being younger, on the average, the fully employed also reported m o r e years in school than those in the other groups. Their success in finding full time j o b s w a s undoubtedly influenced by both age and education. 17 Of the entire group, 64 percent had completed only eight grades of school or less; 50 percent had finished grade school, and 14 percent had left school before the eighth grade. The other 36 percent had at least s o m e high school training; 20 percent had completed high school or more, but less than 2 per cent reported any college w o r k (table 2). The amount of education, however, w a s not significantly r e l a t e d to skill level in the car shops, wh er e m o s t jobs apparently had required no m o r e than a grade-school education. Al most as high a proportion of m e n with eight or less grades of schooling w e re found in skilled jobs as in semiskilled and u n skilled ones. M o s t of the skilled w o r k ers with little formal education, h o w ever, were m e n with m a n y years of ex perience on the job, whose lack of educa tion apparently wa s balanced by senior ity and experience. After layoff, h o w ever, the combination of age and little formal education proved a h a n d i c a p . Older w o r k e r s were unemployed for longer periods than younger workers, on the average, and those with gradeschool educations had longer un employ m e n t than those w h o had been through high school. Whether the lower level of education or the higher age w a s the greater handicap in f i n d i n g n e w jobs will be discussed later in this chapter. One f i n d i n g of interest is that the out-of-town w o r k e r s were n o t o n l y some wh at older than the migrants but also had averaged m o r e years in school. They w e re also above average in other respects, such as earnings and skill level at the car shops, wage earnings at the time of the survey, and average family income. The explanation s e e m s to be that s o m e of these workers had the skills and experience desired by e m ployers located not too far beyond the b o u n d a r i e s of the Mt. Vernon labor ma rk et area. M arital status and children u n d er 18 A m o n g the questionnaire respondents, 92 percent were married and 62 per cent had children under 18 years of age. With the exception of those w h o had left the labor force, therefore, almost all of the respondents could be considered breadwinners with family responsibili ties. Family responsibility, as m e a s ured by the proportions married and the presence of c h i l d r e n under 18, w a s roughly similar for each of the em pl oy m e n t status groups. The small differe n c e s that e x i s t e d s e e m e d to b e as s o c i a t e d primarily w i t h place of residence. Higher proportions of both the area employed and the out-of-town workers lived on farms than those in the other groups, and these two groups had so me wh at higher p r o p o r t i o n s of children under 18. The migrants also had m o r e c h i l d r e n under 18, on the average, and this fact is probably re lated to the y o u n g e r average age of this group. S o m e nonmigrants mentioned t h e i r school-age c h i l d r e n as a reason for staying in Mt. Vernon--the c h i l d r e n could stay in the s a m e schools and keep the s a m e friends. A n u m b e r of the out-of-town workers reported that they w e re keeping t h e i r f a m i l i e s in Mt. 17B ecau se of the h isto ric a l upward trend in y e a rs of school com pleted, younger w orkers in g en eral have had m ore y e a rs of school than o l d e r w ork ers. The relation sh ip b e t w e e n age, education, and length of unem ployment is exam ined in chapter IV. 7 00 T A B L E 2. L a i d - o f f w o r k e r s b y r e s id e n t sta tu s, age, and e d u c a tio n a l a c h ie v e m e n t , A p r il 1956 (P e r c e n ta g e d is tr ib u tio n ) By age1 A ge o f la id -o ff w o rk e rs T o ta l o f sa m p le in la b o r f o r c e T o ta l m ig r a n ts O u t- o f tow n w ork ers T o ta l n on m ig r a n ts M t. V ern on n on e m p lo y e d A rea e m p lo y e d U nder e m p lo y e d Un e m p lo y e d Out o f la b o r f o r c e T o t a l ................................................. 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 U nd er age 45 ............................. U nd er 2 5 ............................. • • • 2 5 -3 4 ............................................ 3 5 -4 4 ..................................... A g e 45 and o v e r ........................ 4 5 -5 4 ............................................ 5 5 -6 4 ............................................ 52 4 20 28 248 28 17 3 1, 395 59 7 25 27 41 26 15 0 279 53 4 17 32 47 36 11 (3) 207 50 3 20 27 50 26 19 5 909 53 2 23 28 47 26 16 5 64 5 26 33 36 24 10 2 41 2 11 28 59 27 28 4 173 30 2 11 17 70 29 33 8 179 11 6 4 1 89 8 18 63 144 N u m b e r in s a m p le .................... « B y e d u c a tio n a l a c h ie v e m e n t4 Y e a r s o f s c h o o lin g of la id -o ff w ork ers T o ta l o f sa m p le in la b o r f o r c e T ota l m ig r a n ts O u t- o f tow n w ork ers T o ta l n on m ig r a n ts M t. V ern on n on e m p lo y e d A rea e m p lo y e d U nder e m p lo y e d Un e m p lo y e d Out o f la b o r f o r c e T o t a l ................................................. 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 8 y e a r s o r l e s s ........................ 7 o r u n d er ............................... 8 y e a r s ....................................... 9 y e a r s o r m o r e ..................... 9 - 1 1 ...................... ................ .. 12 y e a r s o r 64 14 50 36 16 60 13 47 40 17 57 13 44 43 20 67 15 52 33 15 62 15 47 38 18 59 9 50 41 14 78 11 57 22 10 78 27 51 22 15 82 41 41 18 8 20 1,3 6 1 23 278 23 199 18 884 20 260 27 283 12 169 7 172 10 131 N u m b e r in s a m p le . . . . . . . . *B ased on a sa m p le o f 1, 539 re s p o n d e n ts . 2P r o v id e d th o se not in the la b o r f o r c e a r e in clu d e d . 3L e s s than 0. 5 p e r c e n t . 4B a s e d on a sa m p le o f 1, 492. S ource: No data fo r 34 r e s p o n d e n ts . M a il q u e s tio n n a ir e data. V e r n o n for the s a m e r e a s o n . The migrants, on the other hand, frequent ly reported that they had m o v e d their families so that the family would be together and in order that their higher incomes would p e r m i t better care of their children. H om eow nership Families and family ties contributed to the s t r o n g sense of c o m m u n i t y attachment a m o n g the laid-off workers. Strengthening their attachment w a s their long residence in the area and the high i n c i d e n c e of homeownership. While working at the shops, 74 percent of the workers had owned their homes. In the 2 j years after the shutdown, this pro portion had d r o p p e d o n l y 3 percent, d e s p i t e m u c h unemployment and the acceptance by m a n y of the workers of jobs in other labor market areas. O w n e r s h i p of h o m e s in the Mt. Vernon area declined m o r e markedly on t h e part of m i g r a n t s t h a n of other groups. W h e n working at the shops, 67 percent of these w o r k e r s had owned their homes; at the time of the survey, the proportion had declined to 51 per cent. A m o n g the out-of-town workers, however, there w a s no significant change in homeownership (a slight i n c r e a s e f r o m 74 to 76 percent). This w a s not surprising, since these m e n reported their intention to live in or near Mt. Vernon as long as possible. T h e c o n t i n u e d ownership of Mt. Vernon area h o m e s by 51 percent of the migrants appeared m o r e surprising. Al though this m a y have been due, to s o m e extent, to kn o w n or imagined depressed real estate values, it nevertheless sug gests that m a n y of those w h o had m o v e d away with their families still hoped to return. For other g r o u p s , homeownership changed relatively little between the lay off and the survey, remaining almost unchanged for the Mt. Vernon employed and for the underemployed. A m o n g the area employed, homeownership even in creased slightly, perhaps because s o m e workers bought small farms after the layoff. A m o n g those w h o left the labor force, homeownership fell f r o m 77 to 73 percent. H o m e o w n e r s h i p a m o n g the u n e m ployed fell somewhat m o r e than for the other groups still l i v i n g in the area, declining f r o m 72 percent to 63 percent in the years after the layoff. One reason that homeownership did not fall m o r e precipitously for the unemployed wa s that m a n y of this group were older persons w h o had finished paying for their h o m e s while working at the shops. The fact that those w h o had skilled jobs at the shops m o r e often owned their h o m e s (79 percent) than did the unskilled (67 percent) m a y be as m u c h the result of a higher average age as of higher income s. Years of residence and place of residence For almost all of the laid-off w o r k ers, Mt. Vernon or a neighboring town w a s " h o m e . n Practically all (99 per cent) had lived in the Mt. Vernon area at least 5 years and 85 percent, 20 or more years. E v e n the migrants had only a slightly shorter residence in the area than th e laid-off w o r k e r s as a whole, 8 p e r c e n t having lived in the area less than 10 years, co m p a r e d with 3 percent of the nonmigrants. Not o n l y had m o s t of the laid-off workers lived in the area all or m o s t of their lives, but few had m o v e d around within the area. With the exception of the migrants, t h o s e w h o had lived in Mt. Vernon before the shutdown were still living at the s a m e addresses at the time of the survey, as we re those w h o lived elsewhere in Jefferson County or in neighboring counties. Since place of residence w a s found to be related to em pl oy me nt experience alter the shutdown, it is interesting to examine the geographical location of the car shop workers while employed at the shop. Although a few lived as far as 50 miles away, 95 percent lived within a radius of 30 miles and 58 percent, within 10 miles. The long-service w o r k ers, for the m o s t part, lived w i t h i n short commuting distances, even though 9 a sizable p r o p o r t i o n lived in nearby rural areas. M a n y of the long-distance c o m m u t e r s , on the other hand, had wo rk ed for relatively short periods at the shops. For example, only 7 per cent of t h o s e w h o l i v e d 20 or m o r e miles a w a y had w o r k e d 20 or m o r e years in the car shops, whereas 43 per cent of those w h o lived within 1^ miles had had a similar amount of service. In the total group of nonmigrants, at the time of the survey about 30 percent lived in Mt. Vernon, about 50 percent lived e l s e w h e r e in Jefferson County, and the remaining 20 percent lived in adjacent counties. A m u c h higher pro portion of the unemployed (46 percent) and out-of-the-labor-force (59 percent) groups had Mt. Vernon addresses than did the fully employed (25 percent) and underemployed (17 percent). Concentration of the u n e m p l o y e d and the retired in and near Mt. Vernon, and of the underemployed in Jefferson County outside of Mt. Vernon and outof-the -county places of residence, re flects the l a b o r market situation that existed in the area. M a n y city dwellers w h o could not find industrial em pl oy me nt had no alternative sources of em p l o y ment, twhereas m a n y of those in rural areas lived on small farms and earned s o m e income f r o m farming. Also, the rural dwellers were m o r e likely to have skills and experience that enabled them to find odd jobs and thus avoid complete unemployment. M o r e of those residing in rural areas would have been classi fied as unemployed or fully retired were it not for the incomes f r o m their farms. M a n y of the farmers were classified as underemployed because of the low in c o m e s received f r om their farms. Em ploym ent experience a fte r the shutdow n At the time of the survey, 79 per cent of the car shop workers we re e m ployed. M o s t of these had experienced previous unemployment which will be r e v i e w e d in chapter IV. In the re mainder of this chapter, the post shut d o w n em ployment experiences of the car shop workers are examined. 10 In d u stry and area of e m p lo ym e n t At the time of the questionnaire sur vey in the spring of 1956, only 53 per cent of t h o s e with full-time jobs (36 percent of the total sample) were w o r k ing in the Mt. V e r n o n area. Of the fully e m p l o y e d w o r k i n g in the Mt. Vernon area, m o r e than half (52 per cent) had non-Mt. Vernon addresses. W i t h manufacturing em pl oy me nt at a very low level and a majority of these p e o p l e l i v i n g on farms or in small communities, the largest source of local employment w a s agriculture (41 per cent). F e w e r of the group had found jobs in m a n u f a c t u r i n g (15 percent), trade (12 p e r c e n t ) , and services (11 percent). Despite the empl oy me nt of s o m e of this group in manufacturing, a majority remained in manual work, and this majority b e c o m e s even greater if f a r m i n g is included as manual w o r k (table 3). In contrast with those fully employed in the Mt. Vernon area, a majority of the out-of-town workers a n d migrants were in manufacturing jobs. Eighty-one percent of the out-of-town workers and 73 percent of the migrants were working in r a i l r o a d car shops18 or in o t h e r manufacturing jobs. The largest n u m ber of out-of-town workers we re e m p l o y e d in the East St. Louis-Granite City-Alton area of Illinois, but others were in Decatur, Shelbyville, Springfield, Peoria, and L a Grange, 111. ; St. Louis, Mo. ; and Washington, Ind. The m i g r a n t s w e r e m o r e widely scattered than the out-of-town workers, but a large majority we re l i v i n g and working in Illinois (78 percent); 14 per cent were in other Midwestern States, and 8 percent were outside the Midwest. The largest concentrations of migrants were in the greater Chicago area, for the m o s t part in industrial suburbs west and south of Chicago, and in the greater St. Louis area, in the industrial area on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, where m a n y of the out-of-town workers were also employed. B ecau se the jo b s a re so s im ila r, w ork ers in ra ilro a d ca r building and in re p a ir w ere grouped together. T A B L E 3. L a id - o ff w o rk e rs em ployed at tim e of su rvey , by in du stry group and by m ig ran t sta tu s, A p ril 1956 (P ercen tage d istrib u tio n ) Industry group T otal sa m p le 1 M ig ran ts N on m igran ts2 Out- of-town w o rk e rs T otal _ T..........t ........................... 100 100 100 100 R a ilro a d c a r shops . . . . . . . Other m a n u fa c tu r in g ............ E x tra c tiv e in d u str ie s ............ T rad e .......................................... S e r v ic e s ..................................... C on struction . ................... • . . A gricu ltu re 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . T ran sp o rtatio n and c o m m u n ica tio n ................... O ther................................... 11 30 4 9 10 5 25 17 56 1 5 9 5 3 2 15 5 12 11 6 41 35 46 4 4 6 2 1 3 3 3 1 4 4 1 1 1, 162 277 678 207 Num ber in sam p le in a d e q u ate or no d ata fo r 54 additional resp o n d en ts. in a d e q u a te d ata fo r 52 addition al resp o n d en ts. and th ese w ere not c la s s ifie d by in d u stry. Source: F o r exam p le, a num ber in dicated odd jo b s , M ail qu estion n aire data. The remaining migrants were wide ly dispersed with concentration in the Decatur a n d Peoria, 111., areas. Of the 22 p e r c e n t living and working in other States, a majority were in the n e i g h b o r i n g States of I n d i a n a and Missouri. For those w h o went long dis tances, the favorite States were Texas, California, and Florida. N o specific data were obtained on the reasons for moving to particular c o m munities. Although m o s t of the migrants first found jobs before they m o v e d to a n a r e a , it is not k n o w n w h y they applied in particular places. A n u m b e r were recruited b y firms that c a m e to Mt. Vernon for that p u r p o s e . Since almost all of the m i g r a n t s and their wives w e r e Mt. Vernon natives, it is unlikely that m a n y had family reasons for moving to particular communities. Those w h o went to Texas, Florida, and California m a y have been attracted as m u c h by climate as by job opportunities or by relatives and friends w h o pre ceded them. Length of time in finding jobs In addition to the major differences in types of employment, another sig nificant difference between the out-oftown workers and migrants on the one hand and the employed nonmigrants on the other, is in the length of service in the jobs held at the time of the survey. H a l f of the nonmigrants had b e e n on such jobs 2 or m o r e y e a r s , whereas only 14 percent of the out-of-town w o r k ers and migrants had that a m o u n t of service. T w o factors account for this. One is that a large proportion of non migrants, and particularly those w h o had farms, took other jobs immediately after the car shop layoff. The other factor is that m o r e out-of-town workers and migrants than of the other group had two or m o r e j o b s a f t e r the layoff. A m o n g the nonmigrants, 39 percent of the employed with Mt. Vernon addresses and 36 percent of the area employed had two or m o r e jobs after the layoff, by the date of the survey. In contrast, 52 per cent of the out-of-town workers and 61 11 p e r c e n t o f the m ig r a n t s r e p o r t e d tw o o r m o r e j o b s a fte r le a v in g the c a r s h o p s . W o r k h i s t o r i e s o b ta in e d in the i n t e r v ie w s sh ow that a n u m b e r o f the o u to f -t o w n w o r k e r s and m ig r a n t s h ad o b t a i n e d s o m e k in d o f s to p g a p e m p lo y m e n t in the M t. V e r n o n a r e a b e fo r e a c c e p t in g j o b s o u ts id e . L a y o f fs , lo w in c o m e s , o r l o c a l e m p lo y m e n t at lo w e r than c u s t o m a r y s k ill l e v e l s w e r e a m o n g t h e f a c t o r s le a d in g to t h e d e c i s i o n to a c c e p t o u t - o f - a r e a e m p lo y m e n t. R e l a t i v e l y fe w o f th o s e la id o ff, t h e r e f o r e , im m e d ia t e ly sou g h t w o r k in o th e r l a b o r m a r k e t a r e a s . A t the tim e o f the s u r v e y , h o w e v e r , Z\ y e a r s a fte r the l a r g e s t p a r t o f the l a y o f f , m o s t o f the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s a n d m ig r a n t s h ad b e e n w o r k in g o u ts id e the M t. V e r n o n a r e a f o r w e ll o v e r a y e a r . F ou rteen p e r c e n t h ad b e e n w o r k in g in o th e r a r e a s s in c e 1953 (7 p e r c e n t s in c e the s p r in g o f that y e a r ) ; 47 p e r c e n t had ta k en o u t s id e jo b s d u r in g 1954; 20 p e r c e n t d i d s o b e tw e e n J a n u a ry th ro u g h June 1955; and the r e m a in in g 19 p e r c e n t b e g a n to w o r k in o th e r a r e a s a f t e r t h a t d a te . T h is p a tte r n s u g g e s t s r e lu c t a n c e on the p a r t o f w o r k e r s to s e e k and a c c e p t jo b s in o th e r a r e a s . T h is is a ls o b o r n e out b y r e s p o n s e s in the p e r s o n a l in t e r v ie w s and b y the f a c t that m o s t o f the o u t - o f tow n w o r k e r s and m ig r a n t s e x p e r i e n c e d a c o n s i d e r a b le a m ou n t o f u n e m p lo y m e n t b e f o r e m ig r a t in g to o th e r j o b s . 19 A lm o s t a l l o f the l a i d - o f f c a r sh op w o r k e r s r e p o r t e d that th ey had w a n ted l o c a l e m p lo y m e n t , and m o s t o f th o s e w h o a c c e p t e d jo b s in o th e r a r e a s d id so b e c a u s e (1) th ey w e r e u n w illin g to take the k in d o f w o r k a v a ila b le to th e m in the l o c a l m a r k e t ; (2) t h e y w e r e r e c r u it e d b y o u ts id e e m p lo y e r s and a c c e p t e d b e c a u s e no c o m p a r a b l e jo b s s e e m e d to b e a v a ila b le o r a b ou t to b e c o m e a v a ila b le ; o r (3) t h e y h ad b e e n u n a b le to fin d s u ita b le jo b s in the l o c a l a r e a and fu r t h e r u n e m p lo y m e n t w a s in t o l e r a b l e . T h e o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s and m ig r a n t s h ad , t h e r e f o r e , on the a v e r a g e , ta k e n lo n g e r in fin d in g t h e ir f i r s t jo b s a fte r the la y o f f t h a n the n o n m ig r a n ts . S ix t y -t h r e e p e r c e n t o f the M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s e m p lo y e d and 74 p e r c e n t o f the a r e a e m p lo y e d o b ta in e d t h e ir f i r s t jo b s w ith in 6 m o n th s o f l a y o f f . In c o n t r a s t , 12 o n ly 50 p e r c e n t o f the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s and 57 p e r c e n t o f the m ig r a n t s fo u n d th e ir f i r s t jo b s w ith in 6 m o n th s , Occupation and skill level D e s p ite t h e ir r e lu c t a n c e to s e e k and take jo b s o u ts id e the M t. V e r n o n a r e a , the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s a n d m ig r a n t s m o r e o fte n f o u n d jo b s at h ig h e r s k ill l e v e l s and e a r n in g s than d id the n o n m i g r a n t s . A t the tim e o f the s u r v e y , 40 p e r c e n t o f the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s and 36 p e r c e n t o f the m i g r a n t s w e r e i n s k ille d m a n u a l j o b s , c o m p a r e d w ith 18 and 15 p e r c e n t o f the M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s and M t. V e r n o n a r e a e m p lo y e d . F a r m in g w a s n o t c o u n te d a s a s k ille d m a n u a l jo b and d a ta w e r e d is t o r t e d b y the h ig h p r o p o r t io n s o f l o c a l e m p lo y e d w h o w e r e in a g r i c u l t u r a l j o b s . (See ta b le 4. ) In t h e a b s e n c e o f c o m p le t e d a ta on tr a in in g a n d e x p e r i e n c e , r e la t iv e s u c c e s s o f the s e v e r a l g r o u p s in fin d in g w o r k at s u ita b le s k ill l e v e l s and e a r n in g s m u s t be e x a m in e d i n r e la t io n to o c c u p a t io n , s k ill l e v e l , and e a r n in g s in the c a r s h o p s . O f the s e v e r a l c a t e g o r i e s o f th o s e w h o w e r e e m p lo y e d at the tim e o f the s u r v e y , the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s r e p o r t e d the g r e a t e s t le n g th o f s e r v i c e and the h ig h e s t a v e r a g e s k ill l e v e l at the c a r s h o p s . S ix t y - f o u r p e r c e n t in th is g r o u p h ad b e e n 10 o r m o r e y e a r s at the s h o p s , c o m p a r e d w ith 49 p e r c e n t o f t h e m ig r a n t s and 47 p e r c e n t o f the n o n m ig r a n ts . B o th the m ig r a n t s and the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s h ad a ls o h ad h ig h e r s k ille d j o b s , o n the a v e r a g e , than the n o n m ig r a n ts . P r o p o r t i o n s e m p lo y e d in s e m is k il le d o r s k ille d jo b s at t h e c a r s h o p s w e r e : M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s , 72 p e r ce n t; M t. V e r n o n a r e a , 68 p e r c e n t ; o u to f - t o w n w o r k e r s , 84 p e r c e n t ; and m i g r a n t s , 87 p e r c e n t . 20 S k i l l l e v e l at the c a r s h o p s w a s a m in o r r e a s o n th at 40 p e r c e n t o f the o u to f -t o w n w o r k e r s and 22 p e r c e n t o f the 19The interview responses are examined in chapter III and the u n e m p l o y m e n t data in chapter IV. 20These proportions were obtained from in terview data. TABLE 4. Laid-off workers employed at time of survey, by r e s i d e n c e and employment status and by occupational group, April 1956 (Percentage distribution) Occupational group T otal............. Total sample1 Mt. Vernon employed Area employed 100 100 100 Professional and managerial.......... Clerical and sales . Services . . . . . . . . . . Agricultural............ Skilled3..................... Semiskilled3.......... .. Unskilled3................. 25 24 23 14 Number in sample. 1, 157 5 3 8 6 10 22 Under Out-of-town employed2 workers 100 18 24 13 7 4 3 40 15 17 14 3 84 4 3 3 263 287 127 5 100 3 — Migrants 100 2 4 4 3 2 20 7 5 36 31 15 205 275 — 40 31 JNo data or inadequate data for 59 additional respondents. 2Some of these did not furnish adequate information to classify by occupational group. 3Manual jobs in manufacturing, extraction, construction, etc. Source: Mail questionnaire data. m ig r a n t s w e r e in the s a m e o c c u p a t io n s th e y h e ld at the c a r s h o p s , in c o n t r a s t w ith a m e r e 4 p e r c e n t o f the n o n m ig r a n t e m p lo y e d w h o w e r e s t i l l in the s a m e o c c u p a t io n . M u ch m o r e im p o r ta n t w a s the f a c t that m o r e o f th o s e w h o w e n t to o th e r l a b o r m a r k e t s fou n d j o b s in m a n u fa c t u r in g o r in r a i lr o a d c a r s h o p s . O f th o s e w h o fou n d o th e r c a r sh op j o b s , 53 p e r c e n t s ta y e d at the s a m e s k ill l e v e l , w h e r e a s 31 p e r c e n t m o v e d to h ig h e r s k ill j o b s . O f th o s e w h o to o k o th e r than c a r sh op m a n u fa c tu r in g jo b s in o t h e r a r e a s , 62 p e r c e n t r e m a in e d at the s a m e l e v e l and 19 p e r c e n t m o v e d up. A m o n g th o s e w ith f u l l - t i m e j o b s in the M t. V e r n o n a r e a , d i f f e r e n c e s e x is t e d b e tw e e n th o s e w ith M t. V e r n o n and n o n M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s e s . O f the M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s e m p lo y e d , 72 p e r c e n t h ad w o r k e d in the s h o p s 5 o r m o r e y e a r s , c o m p a r e d w ith 45 p e r c e n t o f the n o n -M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s g r o u p , i n d ic a t in g that m a n y o f the f o r m e r g r o u p h ad b e e n la id o f f la t e r than th o s e r e s id in g in the M t. V e r n o n a r e a . M o s t o f th o s e w ith l o c a l a r e a e m p lo y m e n t a ls o e x p e r i e n c e d m a jo r in d u s t r i a l and o c c u p a t io n a l s h ift s . E ig h ty p e r c e n t o f th e M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s e m p lo y e d a n d '88 p e r c e n t o f the M t. V e r n o n a r e a e m p lo y e d w e r e n ot o n ly i n n o n m a n u fa c tu r in g i n d u s t r ie s at the tim e o f the s u r v e y but a ls o , in a lm o s t a ll c a s e s , in o c c u p a t io n s q u ite d if fe r e n t f r o m th o s e at the c a r s h o p s (ta b le s 3 and 4 ) . The g r e a t d iv e r s it y o f in d u s t r ie s and o c c u p a tio n s i n w h ic h t h e s e g r o u p s f o u n d e m p lo y m e n t c a n b e a ttr ib u te d a l m o s t s o le l y to the s c a r c i t y o f in d u s t r ia l e m p lo y m e n t in the a r e a in the y e a r s f o l l o w in g the c l o s in g o f the c a r s h o p s . E a r n i n g s and in c o m e c o m p a r is o n s 21 C h a n g e s in e a r n in g p o w e r b e tw e e n the t im e o f e m p lo y m e n t in the c a r sh o p s 21Earnings and supplemental income data were obtained in the personal interviews, but are presented here to complete the picture of the employment experience of the laid-off workers. 13 and o f the s u r v e y s h o w e d m a r k e d c o n t r a s t s b e tw e e n the v a r i o u s g r o u p s (tab le 5 a n d c h a r t 1 ). A v e r a g e e a r n in g s o f the n o n m ig r a n t e m p lo y e d w e r e , a t the tim e o f the s u r v e y , s u b s ta n tia lly b e lo w the l e v e l o f th o s e r e c e i v e d at t h e c a r s h o p s and a ls o w e ll b e lo w the l e v e l o f th o s e w o r k in g in o th e r a r e a s . S in ce s u p p le m e n ta l in c o m e w a s r e l a t iv e ly s m a ll, it is c l e a r that s ta n d a r d s o f l i v i n g o f the l o c a l l y e m p lo y e d had C h a rt 1. P ro p o rtio n s o f w o rk e rs e a rn in g m o re tha n $ 8 0 a w e e k , c a r shop job and c u rre n t jo b , Ju n e 1956 PERCENT 100 r 90 NON MIGRANTS 80 70 60 50 40 30 2 0 10 0 Car shop job Job at time of survey Car shop job Job at time of survey Car shop job Job at time of survey Source: Personal Interview Data 14 a r e a e m p lo y e d f a m i l i e s had i n c o m e s that h ig h (c h a r t 2 ) . T h e a r e a e m p lo y e d (m o s t ly r u r a l d w e l l e r s ) had lo w e r f a m i ly in c o m e s th an d id the l o c a l l y e m p lo y e d w ith M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s e s , ow in g l a r g e l y to the lo w a v e r a g e in c o m e f r o m a m a jo r i t y o f the f a r m s . A lm o s t 90 p e r c e n t o f the u n d e r e m p lo y e d and a lm o s t 100 p e r c e n t o f the u n e m p l o y e d h a d f a m i ly i n c o m e s o f $60 o r l e s s , w ith a th ir d o f the e m p lo y e d n o n m ig r a n ts and a lm o s t a ll o f the u n d e r e m p lo y e d (m o s t ly r u r a l d w e l l e r s ) and u n e m p lo y e d (m o s t ly u rb a n d w e l l e r s ) r e p o r t in g fa m ily in c o m e s o f $ 60 o r l e s s . b e e n s e r i o u s l y im p a ir e d . W iv e s o f o n ly 15 p e r c e n t o f t h e in t e r v ie w e d n o n m i g r a n ts w e r e w o r k in g , a lth ou g h th is f i g u re w o u ld a lm o s t c e r t a in ly h a v e b e e n h ig h e r h ad th e r e b e e n m o r e p le n tifu l jo b o p p o r t u n i t i e s .2 2 A n u m b e r o f the m e n h ad s u p p le m e n ta l i n c o m e s , m o s t l y f r o m f a r m in g and od d j o b s . O f the e m p lo y e d n o n m ig r a n ts , 19 p e r c e n t had s e c o n d a r y i n c o m e - p r o d u c in g jo b s a n d 18 p e r c e n t o f the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s had s e c o n d a r y j o b s o r s o u r c e s o f i n c o m e in the M t. V e r n o n a r e a , i n m o s t c a s e s o n fa r m s . In c o n t r a s t , o n ly 6 p e r c e n t o f the m ig r a n t s h ad s e c o n d a r y jo b s o r s o u r c e s o f i n c o m e , w ith a th ir d o f th e s e r e la t e d to f a r m in g . C o m p a r i s o n w i t h car shop jo b s U n lik e the n o n m ig r a n ts , m o s t o u to f - a r e a w o r k e r s h ad im p r o v e d t h e ir in c o m e s in r e l a t i o n t o t h e ir c a r sh op e a r n in g s . W ith r e s p e c t to e s t im a t e d f a m ily in c o m e , 84 p e r c e n t o f the o u to f -t o w n e m p lo y e d w o r k e r s and 77 p e r c e n t o f t h e m ig r a n t w o r k e r s h ad to ta l f a m ily i n c o m e s o f m o r e than $80 a w e e k , w h e r e a s o n ly 43 p e r c e n t o f t h e f a m i li e s o f th e M t. V e r n o n a d d r e s s e m p lo y e d and 23 p e r c e n t o f the M t. V e r n o n TABLE 5. D a ta on e a r n in g s and in c o m e o b ta in e d f r o m t h e q u e s t io n n a ir e s in d ic a te d that the e m p lo y e d n o n m ig r a n ts m ig h t l o o k b a c k u p on th e ir l a y o f f f r o m t h e ir c a r sh op jo b s w ith a s e n s e o f fin a n c ia l l o s s , and in t e r v ie w s c o n f ir m e d th is . A lm o s t 2214 p e r c e n t of the wives of out-of-town workers had jobs, but only 7 percent of the migrants1 wives were employed. Laid~off workers by migrant status and by usual gross weekly earnings in car shop jobs and in jobs held at time of survey, June 19561 (Percentage distribution) Earnings intervals Nonmigrants Car shop Total . C o . . ........................... $50 or le s s ........................... . $ 5 1 -$ 6 0 ............................. .. . . $ 6 1 -$ 7 0 ................... $71- $ 8 0 ................................... $81- $ 9 0 ................................... $91- $100................................. Over $100........... ................... Current job 100 100 238 18 15 7 18 32 12 5 5 7 26 14 3 234 Number in sample........... . . . !N o d a t a or in s u f f ic ie n t d a ta fo r Out-of-town workers 11 Car shop Current job 100 100 100 10 0 2 16 36 28 14 22 6 16 10 14 36 50 2 _ 5 13 34 25 18 5 11 21 30 29 7 56 a d d itio n a l r e s p o n d e n t s . 2In this group, 15 percent earned $30 or less; 9 percent, Source: Migrants Car Current shop job $31-$40; 15 percent, $41-$50. Personal interview data. 15 C h a rt 2. Estim a ted to ta l w e e k ly fa m ily incom es, by em ploym ent and resid ence sta tu s, June 1 956 Estimated Total Weekly Income percent of w orkers Employment and Residence Status Full-time employed, Mt. Vernon address Full-time employed, area address Under employed 97% Unem ployed Out-oftown workers Migrants Source: Personal Interview Data 16 three-fourths o f those with local full time jobs considered the car shop job better than t h e i r current job. About 60 percent of the Mt. Vernon address employed and almost 90 percent of the Mt. Vernon a r e a employed w h o pre f e r r e d the car shop job g a v e better wages a s the reason. T h e underem ployed overwhelmingly preferred the car shop job (table 6 ). A majority o f both th e out-of-town workers and the m i g r a n t s also pre ferred the car shop to their c u r r e n t jobs, but the reasons given show much le ss preoccupation with the wage level, reflecting the generally more adequate level of earnings of these two groups. The m ost frequent type of reason given b y those in th e groups who preferred working at the car shops had to do with location, since t h e y preferred jobs in Mt. V e r n o n t o those in other areas. Some also mentioned the favorable hours at the car shops, referring to the shops* quota system which permitted workers T A B L E 6. who h a d completed their d a y 's quota to go home before the end of the sched uled workday. Those who had work to do on their farm s or h a d other parttime work particularly liked t h i s ar rangement. T h e p r o b l e m of the u n d e r e m p l o y e d For purposes o f analysis, some o f those with jobs in the Mt. Vernon labor market area were classified as under employed. In order to make a clearcut distinction between f u l l-t i m e em ployed a n d underemployed, w o r k e r s were placed in the latter category when their responses to the m a i l question naires indicated that they were either working part time or e a r n i n g a sub standard income and, at the same time, were actively seeking other employment. Because of limitations of the question naire data, a person was classified as earning a substandard income if he re ported no regular job but indicated that Attitude of la id -o ff w o rk e rs now in fu ll-tim e em ploym ent, tow ard cu rre n t jo b and c a r shop jo b , June 1956 (P ercen taj g e d istrib u tio n ) Em ployed: Mt. Vernon ad d ress Em ployed: area ad d ress 100 100 100 100 C a r shop b etter ....................... W a g e s........................................ N ature of w ork1................... L o catio n or h ou rs of w ork. 73 43 16 14 71 62 3 6 72 8 10 54 61 20 20 21 C u rren t jo b b e tte r .............. .. W a g e s.................................. .. N ature of w ork1.............. Lo catio n or h ou rs of w ork. 17 8 8 1 16 6 9 1 22 18 4 - 37 21 14 2 Other2 ............................................ 10 13 6 2 N um ber of r e s p o n s e s ............ 120 90 50 56 C o m p ariso n of jo b s T otal t r Tf T in c lu d e s liking the type of w ork, the jo b itse lf, 1^M w i. M ^Uw W IX w o rk e rs w U M ig ran ts and the su p e rv isio n . 2Includes those who fe lt jo b s equ al and t h o s e who thought jo b s too d iffere n t to co m p are . Source: P e r so n a l in terview d ata. 17 he had some income from farming, odd job s, o r some type o f sm all business and was actively seeking w o rk .23 Although the difficulties of m easur ing underemployment w e r e great, the underemployed, a s classified in t h i s study, seem to represent a fairly dis tinct group when c o m p a r e d with the fully employed nonmigrants. In m a n y respects, they are comparable with the lon g-term unemployed, differing from that group prim arily because they had some income from w o r k and because they i n c l u d e d a larger proportion of rural dw ellers. Presumably, a number of the underemployed would have been unemployed had they been living in the city rather than on small farm s. Compared with th e area employed, the underemployed were older (59 per cent were 45 and over, compared with 36 percent of th e area employed) and they had le ss education (78 percent with 8 grades or le ss compared with 59 per cent). In comparison with all fully em ployed nonmigrants, the underemployed included a higher proportion of r u r a l dw ellers, and had average lower skill levels at the car s h o p s (24 p e r c e n t had been in skilled jobs compared with 34 percent). Further, the great m a jority (85 percent) were w o r k i n g on farm s at the time of the study and had been on farm s since being laid o f f at the car s h o p s (71 percent); and, ac cording to interview data, the great mar jority also had total fam ily incomes of $60 o r le ss a week (88 percent com pared with 34 percent of the other non migrant employed). M ost of the underemployed who were interviewed reported an active search for work only in the Mt. Vernon area and indicated that they would take any kind of local job, since they wished to continue living on their farm s but hoped to supplement farm income with local nonfarm employment. Self-employment Significant w a s th e high degree o f self-em ploym ent among the laid -off in dustrial workers. A lm ost one-third of 18 the total number in the labor force (31 percent) were self-em ployed when in terviewed ( a l m o s t half of the nonmi gran ts), and another 9 percent reported some experience with self-em ploym ent after the shutdown. This c a n largely be a t t r i b u t e d to the relatively large number (88 percent) who owned sm all farm s. Of the total self-em ployed, 58 percent were farm ers and the rest were in a variety of occupations —taxi-driving, retail s t o r e operation, and a number o f skilled trades (painting, carpentry, metalworking). In the skilled trades, many were in th e Modd-job" category, working short and variable hours. Alm ost all of the self-em ployed were nanmigrants. Although as a group, the self-em ployed had steadier employment a f t e r the layoff than the nonmigrants employed by others, many (26 percent) were classified as underemployed, with lo w average incom es. Approximately 70 percent of the underemployed worked for them selves; the rest of the s e lf-e m ployed (74 percent) were in a variety of occupations, including farming. Their self-em ploym ent r e f l e c t e d more the relative scarcity o f wage-earning jobs in the local area t h a n the inability to earn a reasonable income. In t e r m s of age, education, homeowner ship, car shop occupation, skill, and l e n g t h of service, th e self-em ployed among the nonmigrants d i f f e r e d little from the nonmigrants who worked for others. E m p l o y m e n t s t at us of the o l d er w o r k e r Because older workers allegedly have greater difficulty in finding jobs than do younger w orkers, it i s o f interest to examine the employment experience of workers b e t w e e n the ages o f 55 and 65. 24 Compared with the entire sample, this age group had a higher proportion 23Although the interview data would perm it a m o r e p re c ise determ ination o f underem ployment, it w as found t h a t the d ifferen ces in c la ssific a tio n would be m inor a n d it w as decided to use the sam e c r ite ria in order to m aintain co m parability. 24The unemployment e x p e r i e n c e of older w orkers is exam ined in chapter IV. of underemployed (18 compared with 11 percent), a higher proportion o f selfemployed (43 compared w i t h 30 p e r cent), but a b o u t the same proportion in agriculture (20 and 19 percent, re s p e c t i v e l y ) , On the other hand, 23 percent of the total laid -off group had found manufacturing jobs (exclusive o f railroad car building), w h e r e a s only 10 percent of the 55 to 65 age g r o u p had done so. Yet, 10 percent of these older workers had obtained other rail road car shop jobs, compared w i t h 9 percent of the total sample. The abil ity to get jobs in car s h o p s h e l p e d r a i s e the proportion o f th e 55 to 65 age group working in other labor m ar ket a r e a s to 25 p e r c e n t , compared with 32 percent of the total grou p,25 When the older w o r k e r group was expanded to include t h o s e between 45 and 65 years of age, it was found that the r a i l r o a d car building and repair firm s had h i r e d significantly greater proportions of workers in this age group than h a d other types of manufacturing firm s. Of the out-of-town worker s with in this age group, 64 percent were in car shop jobs, compared with 74 per cent o f th e migrants; only 42 an d 27 percent, respectively, w e r e employed in other manufacturing jobs. One ex planation is t h a t the car building and repair firm s were more willing to hire these older workers in order to utilize their car s h o p skills and experience. The higher proportion of older out-oftown workers than migrants who were in manufacturing jobs o t h e r than car shops was due in part to the fact that a number of the out-of-town workers had s k i l l s (particularly welding) that could be u t i l i z e d by a Granite City, 111. , manufacturer, who was apparently more willing to hire older workers than were some other manufacturing firm s. 25Of those between 55 and 65 who took outo f-a re a jo b s, 40 percent w ere working in car building or re p a ir and 40 p e r c e n t w ere in m anufacturing other than c a r building. 19 Chapter HE. Decisions on Where to Live and Work26 The workers who were laid off as a result of the car shop s h u t d o w n had varied experiences with respect to when, how, and where they found jobs and the kinds of employment they obtained. In the search for jobs, many workers were faced with complex decisions. Should t h e y accept local e m p l o y m e n t le ss favorable than their car shop employ ment? S h o u l d they look for work in other labor market areas? What should an ou t-of-are a job o f f e r t o be worth accepting? If a job w e r e taken in another area, should the fam ily move, either immediately or at s o m e future time ? A ma^or purpose o f the p e r s o n a l interview was to obtain some informa tion about labor market decisions in the 2 or 3 years immediately following the layoff. The decisionmaking p r o c e s s is examined, therefore, in turn, for the nonmigrants, the out-of-town workers, and for the m igrants. and fam ilies in the even t h o u g h m ost working outside the year, and many for Mt. V e r n o n area of t h e m had been a r e a well over a 2 or even 3 y ears. The implication of strong hometown attachment shown in the questionnaire data was confirmed by the data ob tained in the interviews and is support ed by at least one other study of south ern Illinois w o rk e rs.27 Many of the laid -off workers who stayed in Mt. Vernon had not actively searched for work outside the area and when inter viewed, a majority of the employed non migrants were not seeking other em ployment in or out of the local labor market area. Excluding those out of the labor force, 30 percent of the non migrants (employed and unemployed) said they were seeking work, and c£ these, almost two-thirds were looking only in the Mt. Vernon area. The proportion of the unemployed however, who said they were seeking jobs in other labor market areas was greater than that of the employed. W h y nonm igrants rem ain ed in Mt. V ern on Responses to the m ail questionnaires implied that the overwhelming majority of the form er car s h o p workers pre f e r r e d to live a n d w o r k i n the Mt. Vernon area. This was shown b y the fact that at th e time of the survey 82 p e r c e n t of the respondents gave Mt. Vernon area as their home address, al though only 36 p e r c e n t had full-tim e jobs in the area. A s stated previously, there was also a continued high degree of homeowner ship in the Mt. V e r n o n area, even a m o n g those with regular employment in other labor market areas. Finally, among those with jobs in other areas beyond n o r m a l commuting dis tance, 43 percent still had their homes 20 In order to evaluate hometown attach ment, the n o n m i g r a n t s were asked: 11What a r e the reasons that you h a v e preferred to stay in the M t. V e r n o n area since the car shops closed ?" and nWhat are the minimum conditions under w h i c h you would accept a job outside the Mt. Vernon ar e a? ' * The reasons given in response to the first question a r e shown in table 7. P e r h a p s the 26P e rso n al interview data. 27A survey of southern Illin ois unem ploy ed showed that although one-fourth had had t h e i r la s t em ploym ent outside the southern Illin ois region, alm o st a ll (97 percent) con sid ered southern Illin ois their p e r m a n e n t home. A pplicant and C laim ant Survey, op. cit. T A B L E 7. R e a so n s given by la id -o ff w o rk e rs em ployed in Mt. Vernon a r e a fo r p re fe rrin g to stay in Mt. Vernon, m ultiple r e sp o n s e s, June 1956 (P ercen tag e d istrib u tio n ) R e a so n s given 'Tz-.fa 1 ............ Mention of home or p rop erty ow nership, other than f a r m . . . . . . . . . F a r m ow nership . . . . . . . . . . Mt. Vernon is hom e town ..................... F a m ily and frie n d s . . . . . . . . Found w ork in a r e a . ............ Other r e a s o n s 2 ..................... .. N um ber of r e s p o n s e s ............ Mt. Vernon em ployed A re a em ployed U nderem ployed Unem ployed 100 100 100 100 29 13 17 32 18 25 17 4 19 16 13 10 16 11 13 11 18 9 6 24 28 28 *4 19 3209 142 63 54 U n em p lo y ed who had found work and then lo s t it. 2Such a s age , ch ildren in sch ool, and not knowing where to find jo b s in other a r e a s . 3N um ber of resp o n d en ts, 278; num ber of r e s p o n s e s , Source: P e rso n a l in terview d ata. m ost significant finding is that such a small proportion of the responses had to do with finding local em ploym ent.28 Property ownership and personal attach ment to the a r e a and its people were the major r e a s o n s for the desire to stay. T h e s e responses do not mean that employment and income were unimpor tant. They indicate, rather, that th e nonmigrants preferred to s t a y i n Mt. Vernon because of t h e i r property and personal ties, d e s p i t e lower average earnings and reduced living standards. Some of the nonmigrants said they had attempted to secure e m p l o y m e n t in other areas, but had been unsuccessful because they were above a certain age. In answer to the question about con ditions for acceptance of j o b s outside Mt. Vernon, two-thirds o f the nonmi grants 45 years o r older (66 percent) listed various conditions; the other third (34 percent) said they would not or did not want to leave for any type of job. 468. A somewhat higher p r o p o r t i o n of those under 45 (39 percent) said they did not w a n t to leave the Mt. Vernon area for a n y kind of job. 29 A l i t t l e more than half of th e total number of n o n m i g r a n t s (55 percent), however, listed financial conditions under which they would accept employment in other areas. Most of those willing to accept jobs outside the area made specific re quirements of wages, hours, steadiness of employment, or t y p e of work. In m ost cases, however, these conditions were based either on the respondents* previous experience or on information f r o m others about outside job s. Ten percent said they w o u l d have to earn enough more to cover the higher costs of living in, or commuting t o , o t h e r laboi* market areas; 3 percent said they 28Using t h e fir s t mentioned re aso n a s the m ajo r reaso n , 11 percen t of the nonm igrants gave ’’finding w ork" a s the m ajor re aso n for staying in Mt. Vernon. 29Such an sw ers m ean ’’any kind of job" the respondents con sidered within the re alm of the probable. 21 w o u l d have to g e t the union s c a le ; 5 p e r c e n t, that t h e y w ould have to s e ll th e ir p r o p e r ty ( u s u a l l y a fa r m ) at a g o o d p r ic e . The rem a in in g 37 p e r ce n t m e n tio n e d s p e c ific w a g e s — m o r e than $80 a w eek f o r 22 p e r c e n t and $80 o r under fo r the r e m a in d e r . Only a few sa id they w o u l d take any kind of jo b . A la r g e m a jo r it y o f the n on m igra n ts did not know of, nor had they r e c e n tly b een a c tiv e ly se a rch in g f o r , any s p e c ific jo b open in gs i n oth er a r e a s . A lthough 30 p e r c e n t w e re seekin g oth er em p lo y m en t when in te rv ie w e d , on ly 11 p e r c e n t w e re c o n s id e r in g jo b s in oth er a r e a s . F u r th e r, 10 p e r c e n t had r e c e n tly known of jo b s in oth er a re a s that t h e y had d e c id e d not to apply f o r . A m a jo r it y of the f a r m e r s w e re relu cta n t t o g iv e up th e ir fa r m s , p r e f e r r i n g to co m b in e fa rm in g w ith in d u stria l jo b s as they had done w hen they w o rk e d at the c a r sh op s, b e c a u se the fa r m s w ould be a s o u r c e o f f o o d and in c o m e i n the even tu a lity o f fu tu re la y o ffs . The n o n m ig ra n ts, t h e r e fo r e , although i n m o s t c a s e s not s a tis fie d , w e re ap p a re n tly d e te rm in e d to r e m a i n in the M t. V e rn o n a r e a as lon g as they w e re getting b y . Som e w e re quite s a tis fie d w ith t h e i r p o s t - c a r - s h o p e m p lo y m en t and e a rn in g s , b u t the in te r v ie w s l e f t little doubt that m o s t h oped f o r the e s ta b lish m e n t o f new f a c t o r ie s in the a re a that w ou ld p ro v id e g o o d paying in d u s t r ia l jo b s . The co m b in e d r e s p o n s e s t o s e v e r a l in te r v ie w q u e stio n s r e v e a le d t h a t t h e m a jo r r e a s o n s fo r n on m ig ra tio n w e r e p r o p e r ty ow n e rsh ip (h o m e s, fa r m s , and o th er p r o p e r t y ), fa m ily and s o c ia l tie s , r e s p e c t fo r the M t. V ern on s c h o o l s y s te m , the in tan gible but r e a l fa c t o r of lo y a lty to the h om etow n , la ck o f k n ow l edge o f e m p l o y m e n t o p p o rtu n ities in oth er la b o r m a rk e t a r e a s , a r e lu cta n ce to c o n c e d e that the com m u n ity w o u l d r e m a in in a d e p r e s s e d con d itio n , a c e r tain am ount o f o b s o le s c e n c e o r n o n tra n s fe r a b ilit y o f s k ills , and the p e r c e p tio n o f so m e o f the w o r k e r s 45 and o v e r that jo b s w e re not open in oth e r la b o r m a r k e t a r e a s to p e r s o n s pa st m id d le age. 30 F a c t o r s on the dem and s i d e o f the m a r k e t f o r la b o r a l s o ten ded to lim it 22 ou tm ig ra tion o f the la id - o f f w o r k e r s . Som e re m a in e d in the a r e a only b e ca u se ou tside e m p lo y e r s had not h ire d th em . F o r m a l o r in fo rm a l h irin g r e s t r ic t io n s with r e s p e c t to age lim ite d the e m p lo y m ent op p ortu n ities of the o ld e r w o r k e r s . The e m p h a sis o f m a n y e m p lo y e r s on co m p a ra b le w ork e x p e r ie n ce and e s ta b lis h e d lo c a l re sid en ce han dicapp ed th ose M t. V ern on w o r k e r s who a p p l i e d fo r jo b s in v e r y d iffe re n t in d u strie s in c o m m u n i t i e s som e d ista n ce f r o m th eir h o m e s . S en iority sy ste m s and in -p la n t p ro m o tio n s m ade it d iffic u lt f o r m any to obtain jo b s w h ere th eir own o r c o m p a ra b le sk ills w ere n eeded . W h y th e o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s k e p t th e ir h o m e s in M t. V e r n o n The o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s m igh t be d e s c r ib e d as th ose who w e re try in g to so lv e the p r o b le m of a ch iev in g a s a t is fa c to r y in co m e and, at the sam e tim e , liv in g in the h om etow n . A lthough it is p o s s ib le that m any of t h e m w ould be unw illing to continue th eir lo n g -d is ta n c e com m u tin g in d e fin ite ly , a num ber h a d m ain tain ed this a rra n g em en t fo r as long as 2 o r 3 y e a r s at the tim e in te rv ie w e d . M o st o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e rs h a d jo b s at le a s t 8 5 -9 0 m ile s fr o m th eir h o m e s (the d ista n ce to t h e in d u stria l Illin o is tow ns e a st o f St. L o u is ), although o th e rs w e re w ork in g as fa r as 260 m ile s away (La G ra n g e, 111., fo r e x a m p le ). Som e w ork ed w ithin 100 m ile s o f M t. V ern on and c o m m u t e d d a ily , u su a lly i n ca r p o o ls , but a m a jo r ity ren ted r o o m s in the v ic in ity o f th eir jo b s and com m u ted t o th eir h o m e s on w e e k e n d s o r on altern ate w eek en d s. F ew v ie w e d this setup as p erm an en t, h o w e v e r. T h e r e fo r e , they s till fa c e d the d e c is io n o f w hether t o m o v e th eir fa m ilie s fr o m the M t. V ern on a r e a o r a c c e p t what m igh t be l e s s s a tis fa c to r y 30High average age h as been a sso c ia te d with d isp laced w o rk ers and the prob lem s of find ing new jo b s in other d e p re sse d a r e a s . E x am ples include coal m in e rs and textile w ork e r s, S e e W illiam H. M iernyk, D e p ressed I n d u s t r i a l A r e a s - - A N ational P r o b l e m . Washington, D. C. , National Planning A ss o c i ation Pam phlet No. 98. Ja n u a ry 1957, p. 13. jo b s and e a rn in g s in lo c a l e m p loy m en t, as jo b s b e c a m e a v a i l a b l e . M o st o f them hoped that new i n d u s t r y in M t. V ern o n w ou ld p r o v i d e th em w ith jo b op p o rtu n itie s co m p a r a b le with th ose that had e x is te d at the c a r sh op s. The o u t-o f-t o w n w o r k e r s w e r e ask ed in the in te r v ie w s: nY o u r jo b is in (p la ce ) but you have k e p t y o u r fa m ily i n M t. Vernon. Why h a v e y o u k e p t y o u r fa m ily h e r e ? ’ * The r e s p o n s e s , su m m a r i z e d i n table 8, show that m uch e m p h a sis w as p la ce d o n e c o n o m ic and fin a n cia l fa c t o r s, p a r tic u la r ly the o w n e r ship o f p r o p e r ty and the c o s t o f m o v ing. T h is g rou p w as a ls o ask ed w h ether they w ould ra th er w ork in M t. V ern on o r in the a r e a s w h ere t h e y had found jo b s . O f t h e 50 o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s in te rv ie w e d , 43 (86 p e r c e n t) p r e fe r r e d jo b s in M t. V ern on . T h e s e 43 w ere then asked: "W h at kind o f jo b s w ould you take in M t. V e r n o n ? n I n re p ly , 15 (34 p e r c e n t) eith e r did not m en tion w a g e s o r said they w o u l d take a j o b w ith a liv in g w age; another 12 (28 p e r cen t) m en tion ed s p e c ific w eek ly w ages b e lo w $80, w hich is sig n ifica n t s i n c e 74 p e rce n t o f the tota l g rou p w e r e e a r n ing m o r e than $80 in th e ir cu r r e n t jo b s ; and a n o t h e r 8 (19 p e r c e n t) sa id they T A B L E 8. w ould a cce p t le s s pay than in th eir c u r rent o u t - o f - a r e a jo b s . The rem ain in g 8 (19 p e r c e n t) i n d i c a t e d they w ould a c c e p t a jo b in M t. V ern on o n l y if it paid m o r e than $80 a w eek . A num ber s p e c ifie d p a rticu la r o c c u p ation s, m o s tly m anual, but o th e rs said they w ould take anything o r , a t le a s t, any re a so n a b le jo b that p ro v id e d steady fu ll-tim e e m p loy m en t. A lthough th ese r e p lie s u n d o u b t e d l y e x a g g e ra te d the actu al w illin g n e s s to a cce p t su bstan tial ly lo w e r w a g e s, they n e v e r th e le s s in d ica te d a g e n e ra l w illin g n e s s t o m ake som e s a c r ific e to obtain lo c a l e m p lo y m ent. F ew o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s , h ow e v e r , saw any im m ed ia te hope o f fin d ing lo c a l jo b s . Only 11 o f the 50 said they w e re t a k i n g a ctiv e step s to find M t. V e r n o n jo b s , but none o f the 11 w e re seeking w ork in oth er la b o r m a r k et a r e a s . In fa c t, only 1 o f the 50 w as seeking a jo b in another la b o r m a r k et a re a . W h y th e m ig r a n ts m o v e d w ith t h e ir f a m i li e s M ost m ig ra n ts hoped that an in c r e a s e in M t. V ern on jo b op p ortu n ities w ould e n a b l e them to retu rn to w ork in the a re a . T his g rou p , h o w e v e r, h a d d e cid e d that i n the m ean tim e they w ould R e a so n s given by out-of-tow n w o rk e rs a s to why they kept fam ily in Mt. Vernon, June 1956 R e a so n s given (P ercen tag e d istrib u tio n ) M ajo r r e sp o n se s N um ber P e rce n t M ultiple r e sp o n s e s N um ber P e rce n t A ll r e s p o n s e s ............................................ 48 100 72 100 Owned home or p ro p erty , other than f a r m .................................. Owned fa r m ................................ .. C o sts and p ro b le m s of m oving . . . . . Wife w orking1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C h ildren in s c h o o l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O th e r............................ ...................... ...... . . 17 6 14 3 4 4 36 13 29 6 8 8 26 7 19 5 6 9 36 10 27 7 8 12 l l w ives of the out-of-tow n w o rk e rs had jo b s in Mt. Vernon at the tim e of the in terview ; 5 of them had in co m es of $30 a w eek or l e s s . Source: B a se d on in terview data fro m 50 out-of-tow n w o rk e rs. 23 be b e tte r o f f to m o v e w ith th e ir fa m i li e s to the a r e a s w h ere they had found w o rk . Only a fe w c o n s id e r e d the m o v e as n e c e s s a r ily p erm a n en t. W hen a sk ed , 11What w e re y o u r r e a son s f o r m ov in g y o u r fa m ily aw ay fr o m the M t. V e r n o n a r e a , 11 a m a jo r it y o f the m ig ra n ts gave e c o n o m ic and fin a n c ia l r e a s o n s fo r m ovin g th e ir f a m ilie s , a s had the o u t-o f-t o w n w o r k e r s , when a sk ed why t h e y kept th e ir fa m ilie s in M t. V e r n o n . A su b sta n tia lly g r e a te r p r o p o r tio n than o f the o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s , h ow ever, g a v e p erson a l rea son s w h ich c a n b e su m m ed up as nk eep in g the fa m ily to g e th e r11 (table 9 ) . O f the 56 m ig ra n ts in te r v ie w e d , 44 (79 p e r c e n t ) said they w ou ld p r e fe r w ork in g in M t. V ern on , c o m p a r e d with 86 p e r c e n t o f o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s who p r e f e r r e d j o b s in M t. V ern o n . As a m e a s u r e o f the in ten sity o f this p r e f e r e n c e , on ly 14 p e r c e n t o f t h o s e who d e s ir e d M t. V ern on jo b s said they m u st e a rn m o r e than $80 a w eek th e r e , a l though 66 p e r c e n t o f a ll m ig r a n ts w e re ea rn in g m o r e than that am ount in theii* c u r r e n t jo b s . F e w e r m i g r a n t s than o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s , h o w e v e r , w e r e w illin g to take any stead y jo b i n M t. V ern o n r e g a r d l e s s o f pay le v e l. A ll but tw o m ig ra n ts lis t e d a s p e c ific m in im u m w a g e le v e l T A B L E 9. o r sa id th ey w ould r e q u ir e a liv in g w age; o th e r s , in addition to w a g e s, h a d r e q u ire m e n ts such a s som e s p e c ific type o f w o rk , 40 o r m o r e h o u rs o f w o rk a w eek , o r stead y w o rk . L ik e the o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s , how e v e r , fe w m ig ra n ts b e lie v e d jo b op en in g s w ou ld o c c u r in M t. V ern on in the n ea r fu tu re. T h is b e l i e f in p a rt e x p lain s why o n l y 7 o f the 5 6 m ig ra n ts i n t e r v i e w e d said they w e re a c tiv e ly seek in g e m p l o y m e n t in M t. V e rn o n . Tw o o f the sev en r e p o r t e d that they w e re s e e k i n g w o r k not on ly i n M t. V ern on but in oth er a re a s as w e ll. O f the 56, on ly 2 r e p o r te d that they w e re seek in g jo b s on ly in oth er a r e a s . C le a r ly , the m ig ra n ts as w e ll as the o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s , in a lm o s t a ll c a s e s , w e re w o r k i n g i n oth er la b o r m a rk e t a r e a s as a r e s u lt o f n e c e s s it y ra th er than c h o ic e . T h is is borne out ev en by th ose fe w who said nnon when a sk ed w hether they w ould ra th er w o rk in M t. V ern on . The o u t-o f-to w n w o rk e r s and m i g r a n t s (17 out o f the 106) who gave th is a n sw er w e re a sk ed why they said nnon . A lthough n o one said he p r e fe r r e d h is new lo c a tio n , 11 o f the 17 gave the r e a s o n that no op p ortu n ities e x i s t e d in M t. V ern on ; the o t h e r 6 t h o u g h t o p p ortu n ities w e r e b e tte r in th e ir new la b o r m a rk e t a r e a . It a p p ea rs p ro b a b le fr o m th is that e v e n som e in R e a so n s given by m ig ra n ts fo r m oving f a m i l i e s fro m Mt. V ernon, Ju ly 1956 (P ercen tag e d istrib u tio n ) M ajor r e s p o n s e s 1 R e a so n s given N um ber P e rc sn t M ultiple r e sp o n s e s N um ber P e rce n t A ll r e s p o n s e s ................................... 50 100 66 100 No jo b opportun ities in Mt, Vernon C o st and tim e of co m m u tin g ................ C o st of m aintaining 2 e sta b lish m en ts ..................... ......................... • • • • To keep fa m ily to g e th e r ..................... j Other • • • • .............. ...................................... 19 6 38 12 21 11 32 17 5 19 1 10 38 2 11 22 1 17 33 1 *6 resp o n d en ts did not sp ecify a m a jo r re a so n . Source: B a s e d on in terview d ata fro m 56 m ig ra n ts. 24 th is g ro u p w ou ld re tu rn to M t. V ern on i f new jo b o p p o rtu n itie s b e c a m e a v a il a b le . 31 O f in te r e s t a ls o is t h e fa c t that 14 p e r c e n t o f the o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s and m ig ra n ts had t r ie d s e lf-e m p lo y m e n t in t h e M t. V ern on a r e a b e fo r e a cce p tin g o u t - o f - a r e a jo b s . Since t h e s e l f - e m ploy m en t gene r a lly y ie ld e d lo w in c o m e s , th is is fu rth e r in d ica tio n o f the d e s ir e to liv e and w o rk in o r n ea r M t. V ern on . C o m p a r is o n o f e m p l o y e d n o n m ig r a n t s w ith t h o s e w o r k in g in oth er a rea s It w as c le a r that d esp ite th e ir p r e f e r e n c e fo r M t. V ern o n , the o u t - o f - a r e a w o r k e r s had gone ou tside the a r e a to seek w o rk . Only a m in o r ity o f the non m ig r a n ts , h o w e v e r , h a d attem pted t o fin d w ork in oth er a r e a s . C le a r ly , th ose who found lo c a l e m p lo y m e n t w h ich they c o n s id e r e d as g o o d o r b etter than th eir c a r shop jo b s w ould not seek o u t - o f - a r e a jo b s . T h ese n on m igra n ts, h o w e v e r , w e re fa r ou tn u m bered by th ose w ho had a c c e p te d lo w e r ea rn in gs and in co m e in l o c a l jo b s ra th e r than lo o k e ls e w h e r e . O ther n on m ig ra n ts, e s p e c ia lly in the o ld e r age g r o u p s, had sought j o b s i n oth er a r e a s and e ith e r had not found, o r w e re not a c c e p te d f o r , su itable e m p lo y m e n t. A f r e q u e n t co m p la in t o f w o r k e r s a g e 45 and o v e r who m ade v o lu n ta ry co m m e n ts on th e ir q u e s tio n n a ir e s w as that although they had sought jo b s in oth er a r e a s they had been tu rn ed dow n b e ca u se o f a g e. S e v e ra l o f t h e o ld e r in te rv ie w e d re sp o n d e n ts d e s c r ib e d at so m e len gth how th e ir s e a r c h fo r jo b s around the State fa ile d b e ca u se of th e ir a g e. Still o th e r s had not sought jo b s in oth er la b o r m a rk e ts b e c a u s e they b e lie v e d s u c h a s e a r c h w ould be fr u it le s s . A lthough the type o f in te r v ie w u sed w as inadequate t o e sta b lis h m o tiv a tion on the p a rt o f in dividu al w o r k e r s , the e v id e n ce su g g ested that m o s t o f the e m p lo y e d n on m igran ts w e r e w o r k i n g in M t. V ern on b e ca u se they w e re able to fin d lo c a l em p loy m en t and b e lie v e d that the advantages o f w ork in g near h o m e outw eighed the advantages o f lo n g - d is tance com m u tin g o r m ig ra tio n . M o s t o u t -o f-to w n w o r k e r s and m i g ra n ts w e re th ose who e ith e r co u ld not fin d l o c a l jo b s o r co u ld not fin d jo b s they c o n s id e r e d su ita b le. A n u m ber of o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s , had taken ou tsid e jo b s not b eca u se they w e r e u n a b le -t o find w ork i n M t. V ern on , but b e ca u se of the h igh er ea rn in g s in oth er a r e a s . Som e who had been r e c r u ite d by ou tsid e e m p lo y e r s and ten ded to be am ong the m o s t e m p loy a b le o f the fo r m e r c a r shop w o r k e r s in te r m s o f sk ills and ed u ca tion , put a h ig h er p r ic e on the a c c e p t ance o f lo c a l a re a jo b s . A lthough the m ig ra n ts d iffe r e d fr o m t h e oth er g ro u p s i n s e v e r a l r e s p e c t s , the d iffe r e n c e s w e re not so g re a t as to m ake th em c le a r ly d istin ct o r to accou n t f o r th e ir m ig ra tio n . Som ew hat fe w e r than in the oth er g r o u p s had o w n e d h o m e s in the M t. V e rn on a r e a and fe w ow ned fa r m s ; th is g rou p a ls o in clu d ed m o s t o f the u n m a rrie d and a la rg e p r o p o rtio n o f y ou n ger p e r s o n s . T hey, lik e the o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s , had g o n e to oth er la b o r m a rk e t a re a s eith er b eca u se t h e y c o u l d not f i n d jo b s i n the M t. V ern on a r e a o r cou ld n o t find jo b s at adequate ea rn in g s o r sk ill le v e ls . D e c is io n s t o m o v e fa m ilie s depended in m o s t c a s e s on the d ista n ce o f th e ir jo b s fr o m M t, V ern on o r the d e s ir e to k eep fa m ilie s to g e th e r. A g ain , h o w e v e r, the m ig ra n ts , lik e the o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s , tended t o be m o r e em p loy a b le than the n on m ig ra n ts. They w e r e , on the a v e ra g e , m o r e h ighly s k ille d and had w ork ed lo n g e r in the c a r sh op s. They a ls o had a som ew hat h igh e r a v e ra g e le v e l o f ed u ca tion than the n on m ig ra n ts. T h ese fa c t o r s , with the la r g e r p r o p o r tio n o f you n ger p e r s o n s in th is g rou p , su g g est that the com b in a tion o f re la tiv e youth and fa c t o r y e x p e r ie n ce w as h elp fu l in obtaining fa c to r y jo b s in oth er la b o r m a rk e t a r e a s . 31The m ig ran ts who w ere interview ed were all working in other a r e a s of Illin ois or in St. L o u is. It is p o ssib le that som e of the m ig ran ts who had m oved to such distant States a s T e x a s, C alifo rn ia, and F lo rid a had m ade a perm anent change and would not be in ter ested in returning. 25 C h a p te r 1 V . U n em p lo y m en t a n d U n em p lo ym en t Insuran ce A lm o s t a ll o f the w o r k e r s w ho w e re la id o ff w hen the c a r shops shut down e x p e r ie n c e d som e u n em ploym en t. Som e of th ose c o v e r e d by the su rv e y w ho had b een la id o ff b e fo r e the fin a l shutdown w e r e u n e m p l o y e d at the tim e o f the shutdown. In this ch a p te r, du ration of u n em ploym en t and t h e extent and im p o rta n ce o f u n em ploym en t in su ra n ce to the w o r k e r s are an alyzed. U n e m p l o y m e n t t r e n d s in th e M t. V e r n o n a r e a a f t e r th e s h u t d o w n A change in the t e r r it o r y in clu d ed in the M t. V e rn o n la b o r m a rk e t a r e a w as m ade by the Illin o is State E m p lo y m en t S e r v ic e sh o rtly a f t e r the s h u t d o w n , m aking im p o s s ib le a s a tis fa c to r y c o m p a r is o n o f a r e a u n em ploym en t tren d s b e fo r e and a fte r the s h u t d o w n . 32 In J e ffe r s o n , W ayne, and H am ilton C oun t ie s , h o w e v e r , an a r e a in w h ich M t. V ern o n is the la r g e s t urban com m u n ity, u n em ploym en t w a s e stim a te d a t 16. 3 p e r c e n t of the total la b o r fo r c e in A p r il 1954, 2 m on th s a fter the shutdown (table B e fo r e the shutdown, u n em p loy 10) . m en t i n th ese co u n tie s w a s e stim a te d to be b etw een 10 and 12 p e r c e n t o f the tota l la b o r f o r c e . 33 A lthough the t h r e e - c o u n t y a r e a i s la r g e r than the presh utdow n M t. V ern on la b o r m a rk e t a r e a and the la b o r f o r c e fig u r e s a r e e s t i m a t e d fr o m p a rtia l data, the data appear su ffic ie n tly r e l i able to in d ica te the tren d o f u n e m p loy m en t a fte r the shutdown. The t h r e e co u n tie s in clu d e a lm o s t a l l o f the M t. V ern o n la b o r m a rk e t, and th ose p o rtio n s of W ayne and H am ilton cou n ties ou tside of the M t. V ern o n la b o r m a rk e t a r e a a re la r g e ly r u r a l s e c tio n s w h ich, in the 26 p e r io d a fter the shutdown, had r e la t iv e ly little change in em p loy m en t and un em p loy m en t. The un em ploym en t e s tim a te s fo r the p e r io d s ju s t b e fo r e and a fter the shut down a l m o s t ce r ta in ly u n d erestim a te the un em ploym en t in the n o n a g ricu ltu ra l s e c to r of the M t. V ern on la b o r m a rk et. M o st n on farm em p loy m en t i n the a r e a is in M t. V ern on it s e lf and m u ch of the unem ploym en t w as co n ce n tra te d th e re . Q u estion n aire data in d ica ted that s m a lle r porf>ortions of ru r a l than of urban r e s i dents w e re tota lly u n em p loy ed , although a c o n s id e r a b le am ount of the u n d e re m p loy m en t w as c o n c e n t r a t e d in ru ra l areas. F r o m a peak in the m onths im m e d i ately fo llo w in g the shutdown, u n em p loy m en t i n the a r e a g r a d u a l l y d rop p ed through late 1955 and e a r ly 1956, r i s ing again in A p r il 1956, but it w as s till b elow the 1954 le v e l. T h e d e clin e in u n em ploym en t re su lte d fr o m a shrinking of the lo c a l la b o r fo r c e r a t h e r t h a n fr o m an ex p a n sion in jo b o p p ortu n ities, sin ce em p loy m en t in the a re a a ls o d e clin e d . B etw een A p r il 1954 a n d M ay 1956, the d ro p in the em p loy m en t le v e l a lm o st equ aled that in the le v e l o f un em p loy m en t. The m a jo r e lem en t in this la b o r fo r c e shrink age w as ou tm ig ra tion of w o r k e r s , although o ld e r w ork ers* w ith draw al fr o m the l a b o r f o r c e w as a c c e le r a te d , illu stra tin g the s c a r c it y of 32Beginning in A pril 1954, labor fo rce e s tim ates w ere p rep ared for Je ffe rso n , Wayne, and Hamilton C ounties, in stead of for J e f f e r son County only. 33These e stim ate s are b ased on inform ation s u p p l i e d by the Illin ois State Em ploym ent S erv ice . job opportunities faced by th e laid-off workers. In the spring of 1956, when the field study was made, layoffs in other labor market areas had resulted in the return to Mt. Vernon of s o m e of the outmigrants. 34 This temporarily reversed the downtrend in the labor force and created a substantial increase in l o c a l unem ployment; some of this increase in un employment was reflected in the ques tionnaire re sp o n se s.35 U n e m p lo y m e n t o f ca r s h o p w o r k e r s A large majority of the laid-off car shop employees experienced a month or more of unemployment. Sixty-seven per cent reported 3 o r more months* un employment; 54 percent w e r e without work for 6 o r more m o n t h s , and 31 percent were unemployed for a year or longer. According to the questionnaire re sp o n se s,36 84 percent applied for un employment insurance an d 79 percent received benefits. Although the questionnaire responses may exaggerate slightly the total amount of unemployment, 37they illustrate sev eral aspects of the employment and un employment experience of the respond ents. For example, two important rea sons for staying in Mt. Vernon w e r e (1) availability of jobs or self-em p loy ment immediately after layoff, and ( z ) inability to obtain employment in other areas. Both a r e reflected in the un employment experience o f th e nonmi grants, of whom approximately one-third had found other employment almost im mediately after layoff and another third were unemployed for a year or m o r e -figures noticeably higher than those for out-of-town workers and migrants (table 11). In other words, many who found jobs q u i c k l y in the Mt. Vernon area stayed, but in a d d i t i o n , others also stayed who found job finding very dif ficult. Many of those with long periods of unemployment were men over 45 who found it difficult to f i n d jobs in other areas. A l m o s t 9 out of 10 of the out-oftown workers and migrants had experi enced s o m e unemployment, but fewer p e r s o n s in these groups than of th e nonmigrants were unemployed for a year or m ore. The particular p a t t e r n of 34Southern Illinois outmigrant workers tend to return to their hometowns not only when job opportunities become available but also when they are laid off in other areas. For additional evidence, see Applicant and Claim and Survey, op. cit. 35By October 15, 1956, h o w e v e r , unem p l o y m e n t had again fallen off substantially both because of heavy outmigration to indus trial plant j o b s in the central and northern p a r t of Illinois and because o f employment increases in nonmanufacturing establishments in Mt. Vernon. The Illinois State Employ ment Service reported that, as of October 15, 1956 (Labor Market Trends, November 1956), the number of unemployed men was approxi mately half that of 6 months earlier. The Employment Service* s report stated: "Con tinued recruitment by firms outside the area has practically drained off all the skilled ma c h i n e operators. However, many of these same men would be willing to return home if local e m p l o y m e n t opportunities presented themselves. " 36When not otherwise specified, data in this chapter are from the questionnaire responses. 37In the interviews, 86 percent said t h e y applied for benefits (84 percent on question naires): 19 percent said they drew no bene fits (21 percent on questionnaires). These results are very similar, but only 61 percent of those i n t e r v i e w e d reported 2 or more weeks of total unemployment, compared with 76 percent of those who completed question naires. Other than s a m p l i n g differences, t h i s discrepancy has two possible explana tions. Some of those who completed the mail questionnaires misunderstood the meaning of "unemployed" and reported t o t a l unemploy ment for periods wh e n farming, doing od d jobs, or when otherwise self-employed. Fur ther, a few may have t r i e d to match total unemployment with the l e n g t h of time they drew unemployment compensation. It might be noted, also, that under the Illinois Unem ployment Compensation Act, some benefits can be received even if a p e r s o n is not totally unemployed. In section 239 of th e a c t (as amended to July 1, 1951), th e definition of unemployed includes a person who is other wise e l i g i b l e and i n any week works less than full time for wages less than his week ly benefit amount. Thus, a person with no total unemployment c o u l d receive benefits. Further, the data for this study were coded in such a way that persons with less than 2 weeks of total unemployment were c o u n t e d with those with no unemployment. Some of these people drew unemployment compensa tion benefits. 27 TABLE 10o Estimates of civilian labor force, Jefferson, Wayne, and Hamilton Counties, 111. , April 19 54-April 1956 Labor force April 1956 October 1955 April 1955 October 1954 April 1954* Total civilian labor fo r c e ,............... 24, 0 50 23,450 24, 47-5 24, 725 27, 525 Total employed .« ............................... Nonagricultural wage and salary workers............................. Other nonagricultural w ork ers......... ......... . Agricultural workers ..................... Total unemployed ............................. Unemployed as percent of labor force...................................... < 21,450 21, 600 21, 725 21, 425 23, 025 11, 850 11, 900 11,825 11, 725 13, 125 3, 200 6,400 2, 600 3,200 6, 500 1, 850 3, 200 6, 700 2, 750 3, 200 6, 500 3, 300 3, 200 6, 700 4, 500 10. 8 13. 3 16. 3 10. 8 7.9 Numerical change in-Period April 1954-October October 1954-April April 1955-October October 1955-April 1954......... . . . . 1955................. 1955......... . . . . 1956......... Labor force Total employment Non agricultural employment Un employment -2,800 -250 -1, 025 +600 -1, 600 +300 -125 -150 -1, 400 + 100 +75 -50 -1, 200 -550 -900 +750 Revised figures. Source: Labor Market Reports, Research and Statistics Section, Illinois State Employment Service reports. TABLE 11. Laid-off workers by duration of unemployment and by migrant status, April 1956 (Percentage distribution) Total sample1 Nonmigrants Out-of-town workers Migrants 100 100 100 100 Unemployment..................... 2 weeks-2 months............ 3- 5 months . . . . . . . . ........ 6-8 months....................... 9-11 months..................... 12-17 months........... 18-23 months . . . . . .......... 2 or more y e a r s............. No unemployment2. . . . . . . . . 76 9 13 14 9 13 9 9 24 69 7 10 11 7 12 9 13 31 88 9 17 23 14 15 7 3 12 89 16 21 17 12 13 7 3 11 Number in sample............... 1, 290 826 193 271 Duration of unemployment Total.............. ................. Questionnaires contained inadequate data for 105 additional workers. includes those with less than 2 weeks’ total unemployment. Source: 28 Mail questionnaire data. unemployment for out-of-town workers and migrants implied not only that more than half of them had concentrated their employment s e a r c h in the local area for some months after th e layoff, but also that search for and acceptance of employment in other areas accelerated rapidly after the first few m o n t h s of unemployment. Migrants had somewhat le ss unem ployment, on the average, than out-oftown workers which indicates that they were more willing to break their ties, at least temporarily, with the hometown. Data on t o t a l months of unemploy ment are supplemented by responses to the question on the time r e q u i r e d to find the first job after layoff. F ortyseven percent of the area full-tim e em ployed h a d found employment within 2 weeks after being laid off, and 71 per cent of the underemployed had engaged in some type of work within a similar length of tim e. These high figures re flect the fact that many of the area em ployed and underemployed were able to resume or take up farming or odd jobs shortly after th e layoff. In contrast, o n l y 26 percent of th e full-tim e em ployed with Mt. Vernon addresses, 12 percent o f the out-of-town w o r k e r s , a n d 13 p e r c e n t of the migrants had found their first jobs within 2 weeks. C o m p a r i s o n o f th e s h o r t - t e r m a n d lo n g -te r m u n e m p lo y e d Eighty-three percent of t h o s e with little (2 w e e k s or le ss) or no unem ployment were workers w h o stayed in the Mt. V e r n o n area. On the other hand, 89 percent of those with at least 2 years of unemployment after the shut down were also persons who stayed in the area. Thus, m ost of both the short est and longest periods of unemployment was c o n c e n t r a t e d among the nonmi grants. Absence of unemployment, however, had not in all cases meant satisfactory solution of the employment problems of the laid-off workers. M a n y who re ported no unemployment were farm ers o r farmhands who had depended u p o n work in the car shops for adequate in come; others had not worked at a reg ular or full-tim e job since th e layoff, but had taken whatever odd jobs t h e y could find, and were, therefore, counted with the underemployed; finally s o m e had left the labor force after the layoff because they were age 65 or over. In terviews indicated that some decisions to retire were hastened by the scarcity of jobs in the area. Most o f those with little o r no un employment, however, had found local jobs they considered satisfactory, and so were not faced d i r e c t l y with th e problem o f w h e t h e r t o migrate. In contrast, those who had no work for at least 2 years after the shutdown were those without ready sources of local em ployment, many of whom had looked for work in other areas without success. Large numbers o f nonmigrants r e ported either short-term or long-term unemployment; 40 percent of the group were unemployed from 3 to 18 months after the layoff. In contrast, 69 per cent of the out-of-town workers and 63 percent of the migrants had b e e n un employed for from 3 to 18 months. For the m o s t part, therefore, the out-oftown workers and migrants saw few al ternatives to factory work. They d id not own farmland and could not afford to buy it; they could not get, could not earn enough, or did not want, odd jobs; and they had insufficient capital or did not feel qualified to go into business for them selves. The employment alternatives facing individual worker s were clearly a major factor associated w i t h duration of un employment. Little relation appeared, however, between the period of unem ployment and factors such as the level of skill either in the car shop occupa tion before the shutdown, or in the job of those who had found factory employ ment at the time of the survey. Although those w i t h children under 18 (used as an indication of family financial respon sibilities) reported somewhat shorter periods of u n e m p 1 o y m e nt than those with no school-age children, the expla nation may lie in the difference in age distribution, since younger persons ex- 29 perienced shorter periods of unemploy ment than did those in th e higher age groups. T h o s e u n e m p l o y e d a t tim e o f s u r v e y A m ajority of t h o s e unemployed at the time of the survey had experienced protracted unemployment. Only 8 per cent found jobs within 2 weeks after the s h u t d o w n , whereas 61 percent were more than 6 months in finding their first jobs, compared with only 36 percent in the entire sample. In total amount of unemployment between the shutdown and the s u r v e y , 92 percent of this group had been out of work 6 or more months, 75 percent a year or m ore, and 40 per cent 2 or more years. Some had been unemployed continuously since the lay off, and approximately 9 out of 10 had exhausted their unemployment compen sation benefits. M a n y of the long-term unemployed had no interest in or opportunity to en gage in farming or odd-job work, some had looked unsuccessfully for work both locally and in other a r e a s . Further, much long-term unemployment was as sociated with a g e - - 70 percent of those unemployed in April 1956 were age 45 or older, while only 48 percent o f all respondents in the labor force were in that a g e group. T h e s e older unem ployed were in m ost cases not eligible for social security since only 8 percent were 65 or over. In addition to b e i n g older, on th e average, t h a n the rest of the laid-off group, the unemployed had le ss educa tion; 78 p e r c e n t reported 8 or fewer grades of school. Those over 45 years of age, and particularly those over 55, suffered a double handicap because of age and lack of education.38 With the exception of the migrants, the u n e m p l o y e d group reported th e g r e a t e s t shift from homeowner ship. Further, almost all (97 percent) of the interviewed u n e m p l o y e d had weekly fam ily incomes of $60 or l e s s at the time of the study. L ess t h a n half of 3 8 For more extended discussion, see below. 30 th e interviewed unemployed, however, said they were actively considering jobs outside the Mt. Vernon l a b o r market area. The m ost important reason given by those not seeking jobs in other areas, was that to do so would be futile. A l m ost all w h o gave this r e a s o n were persons over age 45 and in m a n y in stances between 55 and 65. They had either tried to find jobs in other areas and had failed, or knew many who had tried and failed. A small minority of the unemployed, however, felt that they should not have to seek work in other areas; that local industry and business should provide enough jobs. T h o s e o u t o f la b o r f o r c e a t tim e of su rvey Many of the 9. 4 percent of the ques tionnaire respondents who were not in the labor force at the time of the sur vey had n o t retired immediately after the shutdown. This, and the fact that the withdrawal rate appeared above av erage, justified examination of the em ployment and unemployment experiences o f this group, m ost o f whom were 65 years of age or older. The car shops had no form al retire ment age and a number of the men close to 65 or 65 y e a r s and o v e r had not wanted to retire w h e n they were laid off. A number had not retired even at the t i m e of the survey. In 1956, 21 percent were working (almost all in the Mt. Vernon a r e a and m ostly as selfem ployed), and 11 percent were unem ployed a n d actively looking f o r work. The rest (68 p e r c e n t ) had withdrawn from the labor force. Interviews with some of the retired w orkers, however, i n d i c a t e d that a number had left the labor force only because they were un able to find jobs, a l t h o u g h they had looked for work within the f i r s t year after the layoff. Approximately 10 per cent of the total ou t-o f-th e-la b o r-fo rce group h a d some employment after the shutdown. A g e , e d u c a t io n , a n d d u r a t i o n o f u n e m p lo y m e n t Age and amount of form al education were related significantly to length o f cent in the 45 t h r o u g h 54 and the 55 through 64 age g r o u p s , respectively, likewise drew no benefits. unemployment after th e car shop lay off. The data indicate, however, that the relationship between age and length of unemployment was the more signifi cant. Only 32 percent of those unem ployed le ss than 6 months were 4 5 years of age or older, while 47 p e r c e n t of those w i t h 6 through 8 months of un e m p l o y m e n t were in this age group. The proportion of persons 45 and over increased to 56 p e r c e n t of those un employed from 9 through 17 months and to 74 percent of those who were jobless for 18 months or longer. In the sample as a whole, le ss than 40 percent were out of work for 9 or more months, but 64 percent o f the 55 t h r o u g h 64 age group were unemployed that long (table 12) . Included in the group of t h o s e who were unemployed for 6 months or longer, were 76 p e r c e n t of the grade school graduates, 56 percent of the high school graduates, and only 31 percent of those with some post•high^school education. Among all laid-off w orkers, 56 percent of the workers with some education be yond high school either experienced no unemployment or were unemployed less than 3 months; 43 percent of th e high school graduates had a similar experi ence, while only 31 percent o f gradeschool graduates f e l l in this category (table 13). The number of weeks o f unemploy ment insurance benefits also increased with the age of the workers. Benefits were exhausted by 52 percent of those In the 45 through 54 age group and 65 percent of those from 55 t h r o u g h 64 years of age; these rates were 22 and 36 p e r c e n t , respectively, for the 25 through 34 and the 3 5 through 44 years a g e groups. In addition, although 24 percent of the 3 5 through 44 age group drew no benefits, o n l y 15 and 8 per Measurement o f th e relative influ ence of educational achievement and of age upon length of employment was not possible. When replies were analyzed, however, it was clear that the propor tion of w o r k e r s 45 years of age and o v e r who reported 6 or more months of joblessness was g r e a t e r than f o r those under 45, except in the 45 through 54 age group who had 4 or more years o f education beyond grade school. In each educational group, however, work- TABLE 12. L a id -o ff w o r k e r s , by duration of unem ploym ent and by age group , A p r il 1956 (P e rcen ta g e d istrib u tion ) To1tal sam p ie 1 A ge grou p s D uration o f un em ploym en t N um ber P e rce n t 2 0 -2 4 2 5 -3 4 3 5 -4 4 45- 54 5 5 -6 4 65 and ov er T o t a l .............................................. 1, 407 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 U nem ploym ent .......................... 1, 053 75 82 71 72 77 85 59 2 w e e k s -2 m o n t h s ......... .. . 3- 5 m o n t h s ............................ 6 -8 m o n t h s ............................ 9 -1 7 m o n t h s .......................... 18 m onths or m o r e ............ No un em ploym en t2 ................... 127 175 198 293 260 3 54 9 12 14 21 19 25 26 18 10 21 7 18 10 19 16 18 8 29 10 16 15 19 12 28 10 9 14 26 18 23 2 7 12 26 38 15 5 3 13 6 32 41 Q u e s tio n n a ir e s contained inadequate data fo r 132 additional w o r k e r s . 2Includes those with le s s than 2 w e e k s ’ un em p loym en t. The high p ro p o r tio n of p e rs o n s 65 o r ov e r with no total unem ploym ent is in flu en ced by the f a c t that a la rg e p ro p o rtio n of the o ld er w o r k e r s who did not r e tir e stayed in the la b o r fo r c e as s e lf-e m p lo y e d (farm in g and odd jo b s ) . S ource: M ail q u estion n a ire data. 31 C h art 3. P roportions u n e m p lo y e d 6 shop layoff, by a g e and m onths or ed u cation 51% 58% 72% 3 44% 1 45% 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 m m m m m m High school: 1-3 y e a rs I 53% Years of school completed ,M"ill 69% High school: 4 years or more ^ 58% By e d u c a t io n le v e l a n d a g e gro u p 1 Percent 6 months unemployed Less than 8 8 years 9-12 years 12 or more Less than 8 8 years 9-12 years 12 or more A ge group 2 5 -3 4 Less than 8 8 years 9-12 years 12 or more Less than 8 8 years 9-12 years 12 or more Elementary: Less than 8 y e a rs 6 8 % r n m 3 46% 3 40% '7...1 35% "1 37% | 30% I l i R H I M ................. .... '' Years of school completed Elementary: 8 y ears 55% 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 le v e l Percent 6 montns unemployed 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 after car le v e l, A pril 1 9 5 6 By a g e g r o u p a n d e d u c a t i o n Age group m ore I 45% m m 3 5 -4 4 5 8 % Z3 55% 3 53% 4 5 -5 4 30% 1 g 6 8 % 6 9 % 5 5 -6 4 58% * Based on 1,297 mail questionnaires. Persons under 25 and 65 or over were omitted from this tabulation, 2 Includes only 18 out of 248 with some education beyond high school 32 TABLE 13, Laid-off workers by duration of unemployment and by educational achievement, April 1956 (Percentage distribution) Amount of schoolingr Duration of unemployment Total sample1 Elementary school 8 than Number Percent Less 8 grades; grades High school College 9-11 grade s grades 13 grades or more 12 Total................................... 1,370 100 100 100 100 100 100 Unemployment................... 2 weeks-2 months........... 3-5 months...................... 6 - 8 months........... .......... 9-17 months........... . 18 months or m ore......... No unemployment2. . . . . . . . . 1,026 75 9 77 7 9 13 18 30 23 76 7 74 13 17 23 70 13 18 15 14 10 26 30 76 34 19 9 5 9 24 126 169 196 283 252 344 12 14 21 19 25 11 14 23 21 24 11 10 Questionnaires contained inadequate data for 169 additional workers. includes those with less than 2 weeks of unemployment. Source: Mail questionnaire data. e r s 55 a n d over experienced substan tially m ore unemployment than those in the 45 through 54 age group (chart 3). Sim ilarly , in each age group, length of unemployment tended to show a r e lationship to y e a rs o f schooling. The m ost m arked difference occurred when com parison w as made b e t w e e n those with 12 o r m ore y e a rs and those with le s s than 12 y e a rs o f schooling. The h i g h school grad u ates showed sign ifi cantly sm aller p r o p o r t i o n s who had been unem ployedfor 6 months or longer. T h e proportions of those experiencing long-term unemployment, however, in c re a se d for w orkers 45 y e a rs of age or older, except for those from 45 through 54 who had com pleted high school. It seem s c le a r, th erefore, that although education w as related to length of un employment, age w as a m ore significant b a r rie r to reem ploym ent than education. The ro le of u n e m p lo y m e n t in su ra n c e Chronic unemployment in a d ep re sse d a re a is com parable a t th e lo cal level with a national d ep ressio n . Unemploy ment insurance plays a significant role in such com m unities but cannot by it se lf have any g re at effect on the re sto ration of local p rosp erity. M a j o r layoffs at the P re sse d Steel C ar Co. plant o ccurred in M arch a n d A pril 1953 and in F eb ru ary and M arch 1954, with about a thousand p e r s o n s laid off each period. The layoffs had im m ediate effect on unemployment bene fits and the g r e a t e x t e n t to w h i c h Je ffe rso n County unemployment benefits in 1953 and 1954 w e r e attributable to previous employment at the ca r shops. F o r exam ple, th e in crease in number of w eeks com pensated between Jan uary 1954 and M arch 1954 c a n be assign ed alm ost entirely to the F e b r u a r y car shop layoff. F u r t h e r , a significant proportion o f th e com pensable unem ployed in Jan uary 1953 had their cov ered employment in the car shops (table 14). A m ajo r portion of the benefits paid in 1953 a n d 1954, th erefore, resu lted from p r e v i o u s e m p l o y m e n t at the P r e sse d S t e e l C ar Co. Although fa r le s s t h a n the laid -o ff w o rk ers' earn ings would h a v e been, the $2 m illion in com pensation benefits during th e 2 y e a r s not o n l y helped the unemployed w orkers but a lso helped to b o lster the income o f th e c o m m u n i t y at la rg e . Total w eeks com pensated for the county a s a whole fell from 55,430 in 1954 to 21,750 in 1955 and benefits paid, from $ 1 ,3 8 5 ,6 7 0 to $486,375. 33 TABLE 14. Employment at P ressed Steel Car Co. and unemployment compensation paid to all unemployed w orkers, Jefferson County, 111. , 1953-54, by month C ar-shop employment Year and month Total1 — Total: 1953 and 1954 Net change ____ 1953: T o ta l................. January............. F ebruary•••••••••• March •••••••••••• A p r i l ................. .. M a y ...........•••••••• June......................... J u ly ............................ August ..................... .. September* •••••••• October ................. .. N ovem b er................. Decem ber ................. 1,680 2, 250 1954: T o ta l................. — 1, 040 January ••••••••••• F ebruary•••••••••• March •••••••••••• A p r i l ............... .. May •••••••••••••• June •••••••••••••• July •••••••••••••• August •••••••••••• September ............... .. October ••••••••••• November ••••••••• Decem ber ................. 1R o u n d e d 2N o to n e a re s t e x p la n a t io n 1 ,6 1 0 1 , 200 1 , 160 1, 130 930 850 930 1 , 160 1 , 120 900 10 0 (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3) (3l (3) -+ 570 -640 -410 -40 -30 -2 0 0 -80 +80 +230 -40 -2 2 0 -+ 140 -940 -90 --------— Jefferson County unemployment benefits Number of weeks com pensated1 Benefits paid Number who exhausted benefits1 85, 920 $2, 061, 680 1,950 30,490 $676,010 38,565 19,820 45,810 68,250 20, 490 6 6 ,760 6 8 , 940 65,390 8 8 , 500 58, 140 52,310 83,035 560 880 880 1, 970 3, 000 2 1 , 160 3, 110 3, 070 2 , 860 3, 780 2 , 690 2, 380 3, 710 55, 430 1, 385, 670 1, 390 2, 740 3, 770 5, 650 5, 660 6 , 380 6 , 480 6 , 870 5, 400 4, 210 3, 140 2 , 220 63,030 92,280 143,370 145,810 165, 345 168,125 173,860 135, 985 101, 740 74,900 53, 450 67,775 1, 2 ,9 1 0 50 40 50 30 30 70 100 40 60 90 110 140 200 70 — — 120 100 160 200 160 130 10. a v a ila b le fo r sudden d ro p . A pproxim ately 10 workers employed as watchmen and janitors. Source: Illinois State Employment Service and Division of Unemployment Compensation, Illinois Department of Labor. Data on the w eeks of benefits p a i d to the form er car shop w orkers were obtained from th e m ail question n aires (table 15). Of the w o r k e r s laid off from th e car shops in 1953 and 1954, 84 p e r c e n t applied for unemployment benefits and 79 percent received them. The nonm igrants not only e x h a u s t e d their benefits m ore frequently than did the out-of-town w orkers and m igran ts, but a g re a te r proportion of the nonmi 34 gran ts drew no benefits. These re su lts are le s s contradictory than they seem because the nonm igrants were m u c h le ss homogeneous than the other two groups. The nonm igrants included not only those who had other employment im m ediately available in the locality after the shut down or who had the highest qualificat i o n s for local employment, but also those who were l e a s t employable be cause of age or other re aso n s. TABLE 150 L aid-off workers drawing unemployment benefits by number of weeks and by migrant status, April 1956 of benefits (Percentage distribution) Weeks of benefits Total sample1 T o ta l....................... .. Total drawing benefits2 100 Total drawing benefits . . . . . 1-4 weeks ............. .............. 5-12 weeks .......................... 13-18 weeks ....................... 19-25 weeks . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 weeks3. ................. .. 79 100 6 7 18 9 42 54 Not drawing benefits4 . . . . . . 21 -- 8 Out-of-town workers 10 0 100 14 Nonmigrants 10 11 77 4 13 7 Migrants 10 0 100 86 6 80 18 17 9 11 6 10 16 11 47 36 32 23 14 20 xBased on a sample of 1,260; questionnaires contained inadequate data for 135 additional work ers. 2Based on 996 questionnaires. in clu d es a few who exhausted their benefits in less than 26 weeks. “^Includes those who were ineligible for benefits. Source: Mail questionnaire data. Extrapolation from the data in table 15 shows that an estim ated 1, 500 of the 1 , 9 0 0 production and maintenance w ork e r s laid off from the car shops in 1953 and 1954 drew b e n e f i t s during those y e a r s for a total of at l e a s t 30,000 weeks of benefits. F o r those who drew benefits, th erefore, the average d u ra tion of benefits was at le a st 20 w eeks, and at le a st 54 percent exhausted their benefits. These fig u res are well above State a v e r a g e s .39 Fu rth er, according to interview data, 17 percent of the total sam ple had m ore than one period of un employment between th e shutdown and the time of the survey, and 14 percent drew unemployment com pensation sub sequent to their initial period of bene fits. A lm ost one-fourth of the m igran ts, according to interview d a t a , had two periods during which they drew benefits. This h i g h e r proportion i s apparently caused by the number of these m igran ts who return to Mt. Vernon to seek work when laid off in o t h e r a r e a s a n d the la rg e r number in this group who were eligible for subsequent benefits. This eligibility had been o b t a i n e d through either p o st-ca r-sh o p employment or the carry o ver of benefit rights to which car shop employment had entitled them. Economic effects of u nem ploym ent insurance An im portant effect of unemployment insurance is the reduction in the amount of w elfare aid required by unemployed w orkers and t h e i r f a m i l i e s . Since w orkers think o f unemployment in su r ance benefits a s money they have earned through their employment, the su b sti tution of unemployment benefits for r e lief has im portant so cial and m o ral a s w ell a s economic consequences. T h e role of unemployment insurance in this 39Average duration o f benefits in Illinois, April 1955 t h r o u g h March 1956 , w a s 9. 9 weeks. From April 1, 1956, through Octo ber 31, 1956, approximately 13 p e r c e n t of Illinois beneficiaries e x h a u s t e d all benefit rights. 35 re sp e c t w as revealed by interview data which showed that only 3 p e r c e n t of those who had le s s than 6 m o n t h s of unemployment received any w elfare aid, either in goods or cash . In con trast, 13 percent of those with 6-8 months of unemployment received s o m e k i n d of w elfare aid, a s did 16 percent of those with 9-17 months of unemployment and 3 4 percent of those unemployed for 18 or m ore months. A lso receiving w el fare aid were nearly 10 percent of those with no unemployment, m o s t of whom were su bsisten ce f a r m e r s .40 The role of unemployment insurance in m inim izing w elfare or other aid was em phasized by the f a c t that le s s than half o f th e interview respondents who r e c e i v e d unemployment com pensation had any other so u rces of fam ily income during their longest p e r i o d of unem ployment. Of the 142 interview respond ents with additional fam ily income while unemployed, 47 percent had $20 or le s s in such income each week. Unemployment in suran ce, th erefore, large ly supplanted p u b l i c and private re lie f during the p e r i o d in which the w orkers were eligible for benefits. Four out of every five o f those laid off r e ceived unemployment com pensation, and of those who did n o t draw b e n e f i t s , alm ost all were ineligible because they were again employed. Of the 400 w ork e r s interview ed, all but 74 (18. 5 p e r cent) applied for unemployment benefits. Forty-one o f the 74 had been continu ously employed, a n d 17 had made too much money on the farm to qualify. Of the rem aining 16, 14 h a d n o t applied 40Few of those not receiving w e l f a r e aid had any knowledge of social welfare agencies. In the interviews, those who had not received any help from public or private social agen cies were asked: "Do you know what agen cies handle welfare aid in th e community?" Only 17 percent of those interviewed had any such knowledge. Most of those who indica ted some such knowledge said that the per son to see would be either the township or the county supervisor. Those w i t h no un employment (mostly farm ers) and those who had had long periods o f unemployment were more l i k e l y than others to know where to apply for aid. These d a t a are an indirect indication of the importance of unemployment compensation. 36 because they b e l i e v e d they were not eligible (insufficient wage credit, quit job, or not looking for w ork), one said he didn*t believe in unemployment in su r ance, and the rem aining p erson said he had "held off'1 so he could draw la te r. Those w h o were eligible t h e r e f o r e , clearly had little difficulty in receiving benefits and only a very sm all m inority who may have been eligible f a i l e d to apply. Although i t would b e im p ossible to a s s e s s accu rately th e effect of unem ployment insurance on th e m obility of th e laid -off w o r k e r s , there is little doubt t h a t there w as an effect. This effect, however, appeared to be l e s s in determ ining where w o r k e r s would seek and find jo b s than on the sequence and timing of their job search and a c ceptance. The direction and su c c e ss of job search seem ed to be influenced m ore by the state of job m ark ets. F o r ex am ple, 76 percent of those interviewed who had been laid off in 1953 found jo bs in le s s than 6 months, with 53 percent finding jo b s in 2 weeks or le s s , Those laid off in 1954, on the other hand, were longer, on th e average* in finding jo b s, with 3 5 percent finding jobs in 2 weeks o r le s s and 64 p e r c e n t finding their f ir s t jo b s within 6 months of the shut down. B e c a u s e of the layoffs in the previous y e a r and because unemploy ment h a d rise n in other labor m arket a re a s, those l a i d off in the spring of 1954 had m ore difficulty. In addition, a la rg e r proportion of the 1953 layoffs were owners of sm all fa rm s who, be c a u s e of th is, did not become totally unemployed. Fluctuations in the p lace ment activity of the Mt. Vernon office of the Illinois State Employm ent Service give further indication that the duration of unemployment for many w orkers was closely related to the level o f job op portunities not only in Mt. Vernon but a lso in other labor m arket a r e a s. In the interview s, q u e s t i o n s were asked about methods of job search durin g period s o f unemployment. In a l m ost e v e r y c a se , the longest stretch of Unemployment reported was the p e r i od im m ediately following the l a y o f f from the car shops and it was this p e r i od which w as analyzed. Excluding a s jo b s e a r c h the r e g u la r re p o rtin g to the Illin o is State E m p loy m en t S e r v ic e w hile d r a w i n g u n em ploym en t in su r a n c e , 82 p e rce n t o f the re sp on d en ts m ade th eir m a jo r e f f o r t at finding a jo b through d i r e c t a p p lica tio n s to e m p lo y e r s . Of the r e m a in d e r , 8 p e r c e n t depen ded p r i m a r ily on in fo rm a tio n o b t a i n e d fr o m fr ie n d s and r e la t iv e s , 3 p e r c e n t sought le a d s t h r o u g h th eir union, 2 p e rce n t depen ded p r im a r ily on n ew sp a per a d v e r tise m e n ts or oth er s o u r c e s , and 5 p e r cen t in d ica ted they m ade no s p e c ia l e f fo r t s to seek jo b s . Im p r e s s io n s gained in in te rv ie w in g in d ica te d that the sm a ll p r o p o r t i o n s who t r i e d to fin d jo b s through fr ie n d s , the u n ion s, o r n e w s p a p e rs, o r w ho saw no point in a ctive s e a r c h fo r w o rk , r e fle c t e d the s c a r c ity of jo b op p o rtu n itie s in t h e lo c a l a rea . lo n g e s t p e r io d o f u n em ploym en t w e r e n on eth eless o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s o r m i g r a n t s at the tim e in te rv ie w e d . The table s h o w s , h o w e v e r, a re la tio n s h ip betw een the lo c u s of jo b hunting and the m ig ra n t status o f the in d iv id u a ls when in te rv ie w e d . S ix ty -on e p e r c e n t o f the n on m igran ts had lo o k e d f o r w o rk only in the lo c a l a re a . M any o f th ese w ent into fa rm in g o r s m a ll b u s in e s s ; o th e rs found lo c a l w a g e em p loy m en t q u ick ly ; still o th e rs b e l i e v e d t h e y had little ch a n ce, b e ca u se of a g e o r oth er r e a son s, of finding em p loy m en t e ls e w h e r e . On the o t h e r hand, 75 p e r c e n t of the o u t-o f-to w n w o r k e r s and 88 p e rce n t o f the m i g r a n t s had lo o k e d f o r jo b s in oth er la b o r m a r k e t a re a s during the p e r io d of u n em ploym en t a fter the shut down (table 1 6). R e l u c t a n c e to seek w o rk in other a r e a s - - d e s p it e the odds aga in st finding lo c a l e m p lo y m e n t--w a s s h o w n b y the fa c t t h a t a lm o st h a lf o f the in te rv ie w resp o n d e n ts s o u g h t w o rk only in t h e lo c a l a re a . A s table 16 sh ow s, h o w e v e r, even som e o f t h o s e who did not lo o k fo r w ork in o t h e r a r e a s during th eir O p in io n s o n s i g n if i c a n c e o f u n e m p l o y m e n t in s u r a n c e f o r T A B L E 16. L a id -o f f w o rk e rs th e c o m m u n it y Ten b u sin e ss m e n in the com m u n ity , s e le c te d at ran dom , w e r e in te rv ie w e d in the su m m er of 1956 and w e re ask ed b y p la c e s th e y s o u g h t m ig r a n t s ta tu s , Ju n e (P e rc e n ta g e P la c e s la id -o f f w o r k e r s s o u g h t e m p lo y m e n t T o ta l s a m p le T o t a l ...................................................... .. .......................... 1 00 T o t a l s e e k i n g e m p l o y m e n t ................. L o c a l la b o r m a rk e t o n ly . . . . . . . B o th lo c a l a re a a n d o u t s i d e ................................................... 0 , 0 0 0 0 . 94 e m p lo y m e n t 1956 w h ile u n e m p lo y e d Non m ig r a n t s M ig r a n t s O u t -o f -t o w n w o rk e rs 100 100 10 0 48 92 61 96 8 10 0 25 13 10 25 18 22 13 48 36 O u t s id e : B o th in I ll i n o i s a n d o t h e r S t a t e s ...................................... 11 8 15 21 6 8 4 *307 215 48 Num ber in E x c lu d e s S o u rc e : s a m p l e .............. ............................. 44 p e rs o n s P e rs o n a l w ho had in t e r v ie w no by d is t r ib u t io n ) O u t s id e : U p to a n d b e y o n d 100 m i l e s b u t o n l y i n I l l i n o i s ...................................................... N o t s e e k in g e m p lo y m e n t . . . . . . . . . and — 44 u n e m p lo y m e n t. d a ta . 37 what, in t h e i r opinion, u n em ploym en t co m p e n sa tio n had m eant to M t. V ern on w o r k e r s and b u sin e ss . A ll 10 said that the e f f e c t of u n em ploym en t in su ra n ce upon the com m u n ity had b een b e n e fic ia l, although a few e x p r e s s e d c o n c e r n about in d ivid u a ls who m igh t have t a k e n ad vantage o f the sy ste m . None b e lie v e d that b e n e fits had been a m a jo r s o u r c e o f in co m e f o r b u s in e s s e s in the c o m m unity, although s e v e r a l m en tion ed the value to b u s in e s s e s that s e ll n e c e s s it ie s , such as g r o c e r i e s . M o st of the b u s i n e ss m e n thought t h a t the b en efit p a y m en ts w e re only of in d ir e c t a s s is ta n c e to them . W hile som e thought the b e n e fits w ere o f m a jo r im p o rta n ce to the w o r k e r s who r e c e iv e d co m p e n sa tio n , o th e rs thought the b e n e fits cou ld c o v e r only som e n e c e s s it ie s and t h e r e fo r e p ro v id e ” a s m a ll cu sh ion ” that w ou ld be ” a little b etter than n o th in g .” The g e n e r a l r e a c tio n is 38 sum m ed up in the w o rd s of a plant su perintendent: It has been a g o o d thing. W ithout it th ere w ould have been a panic when the s h o p s c lo s e d . It has had a g ood e ffe c t on this town. The a v era g e w o rk e r liv e s fr o m payday to payday. U nem p loy m en t com p e n sa tio n fe e d s h im until he can f i n d oth er em p loy m en t w ithout going too fa r into debt. The m a n a g er of a la rg e r e ta il sto re said: U n em p loy m en t” co m p ” kept the w o r k e r fr o m starving and sa v ed his p rid e . It g iv e s him a stopgap and a ch an ce to get out and find w ork . F in a lly , s e v e r a l of the r e p lie s in d i ca ted that the resp on d en ts b e lie v e d that u n em ploym en t in su ra n ce should p e rm it a w o r k e r to seek em p loy m en t in h is sk ill range and enable him to co n cen tra te h is em p loy m en t s e a r c h in h is h om etow n . Chapter 3E Sum m ary W h e n the P r e s s e d Steel C a r C o. c e a s e d o p e ra tio n s e a r ly in 1954 at Mt. V ern on , e c o n o m i c d is a s te r th rea ten ed that com m u n ity w h e r e c h r o n ic u n em p l o y m e n t w a s a lre a d y a b a s ic la b o r p r o b le m . B e ca u se o f d e c lin e s in j o b op p o rtu n itie s in m ining and in fa rm in g w h ich w e r e n o t o ffs e t by ex p a n sion in oth er e m p l o y m e n t s e c t o r s , the Mt. V e rn o n a r e a u n em ploym en t w as about 10 p e r c e n t o f the la b o r f o r c e b e fo r e the c a r shop shutdown. W ith the te r m in a tion o f o p e ra tio n s a t th is la r g e s t e m p loy m en t s o u r c e in the com m u n ity, a re a u n em ploym en t i n c r e a s e d to about 16 p e r c e n t. A su rv e y b y t h e Institute o f L a b o r and In d u stria l R e la tio n s o f the U n iv e r sity of Illin o is and the B u reau o f L a b or S ta tistics o f the U. S. D e p a r t m e n t of L a b o r , m o r e than 2 y e a r s la t e r , r e v e a le d that o f the 1,5 3 9 f o r m e r c a r s h o p w o r k e r s w h o re sp o n d e d to m a il q u e stio n n a ire s (80. 7 p e r c e n t o f the s u r v e y p o p u la tio n ), 12 p e r c e n t w e r e still u n em p loyed , 11 p e r c e n t w e r e u n d e re m p lo y e d , and 9 p e r c e n t had le ft the la b o r fo r c e . F ift y -fo u r p e r c e n t of t h e s e w o r k e r s , h o w e v e r, had b een u n em ployed 6 o r m o r e m onths o f the tim e sin ce the plant had shut down. T w o -th ir d s o f the e n tire g ro u p o f e x - c a r shop w o r k e r s had fu ll-t im e jo b s at the tim e o f t h e su r v e y ; 36 p e r c e n t w o rk e d and liv e d in the M t. V e rn o n la b o r m a rk e t a r e a (n onm i grants)*, 13. 5 p e r c e n t m a in ta in ed r e s i d en ce in the a r e a but co m m u te d to w o rk in oth er la b o r m a r k e t a r e a s (o u t -o ftown w o r k e r s ) , and 18 p e r c e n t had both jo b s and r e s id e n c e in oth er a r e a s (m i g r a n t s ). Som e sig n ifica n t r e la tio n s h ip s w e r e found betw een the p o st shutdown e m p lo y m ent e x p e r ie n ce o f these w o r k e r s and th eir p e rs o n a l c h a r a c t e r is t ic s . E x c lu d ing th ose w ho had le ft the la b o r f o r c e , a lm o s t all o f the w o r k e r s w ere m a le s a n d a lm o st h alf w ere 45 y e a r s old o r over. T h e o ld e r w o r k e r s con trib u ted m o r e t o u n em ploym en t and u n d e re m p l o y m e n t than did the you n ger m en . Seventy p e rce n t o f the u n em ployed and 59 p e rce n t o f the u n d erem p loy ed w e re 45 y e a r s of age o r o ld e r . B e s id e s the re la tio n s h ip betw een a g e and the rate o f u n em ploym en t and u n d erem p loy m en t, the w ork h is to r y data r e v e a le d that the o ld e r w o r k e r s had had m o r e m onths w ithout w o rk in the tim e b e t w e e n the shutdown a n d the su rv ey than had the you n ger w o r k e r s . A n oth er fa c to r w h ich ca u sed both a h igh er rate and a lo n g e r d u r a t i o n o f un em ploym en t w as the am ount of fo r m a l sch o o lin g . W o rk e r s w ith a gra d e s c h o o l ed u ca tion e x p e r ie n ce d m o r e u n em p loy m en t than th ose w ith a high s c h o o l e d u cation . None o f the oth er p e rs o n a l c h a r a c t e r is t ic s m e a s u r e d had as m u ch in flu en ce upon the p ost shutdown em p loy m en t e x p e r ie n ce a s d i d a g e and edu cation . F a m ily r e s p o n s ib ility w a s t h e r e a s o n fo r k eepin g f a m i l i e s in M t. V ern on w hile the brea d w in n er w as e m p l o y e d ou tsid e ( o u t - o f - t o w n w o r k e r s ) , but it w as a ls o the r e a s o n f o r m ovin g fa m ilie s away (m ig r a n ts ). In a ll of the e m p lo y m en t status g ro u p s, th ere w a s a high in cid e n ce of l o n g t i m e r e s id e n c e and h om eow n er ship in the a rea . P la c e of r e s id e n c e w a s, h o w e v e r, re la te d to e m p loym en t e x p e r ie n ce a fter the shutdown. The u n em p loy ed and the r e tir e d w e r e m o r e co n ce n tra te d in and near the city , w h ile th ose f u l l y e m p loy ed within the 39 M t. V e rn o n a r e a and the u n d e re m p lo y e d w e r e m o r e lik e ly to h a v e o u t -o f-t o w n and o u t -o f-c o u n t y p la c e s o f r e s id e n c e . R u ra l d w e lle r s w ho w e r e u su a lly y ou n ger and w ith m o r e a lte rn a tiv e s o u r c e s o f e m p lo y m e n t, p a r tic u la r ly in fa rm in g and in odd jo b s , had both l e s s u n em ploym en t and m o r e u n d erem p loy m en t than the city d w e lle r s 0 In g e n e r a l, the j o b s o f the o u t -o ftow n w o r k e r s and m ig ra n ts had h igh er sk ill le v e ls and e a rn in g s than the jo b s o f the n on m igra n ts. F u rth e r, w h ile only 4 p e r c e n t o f the e m p lo y e d n on m igran ts w e r e in the sam e o ccu p a tio n as w h e n in the c a r sh op s, 40 p e r c e n t o f the ou to f-to w n w o r k e r s and 22 p e r c e n t o f the m ig ra n ts w e r e in the sam e o ccu p a tio n . In le v e l o f s k ill, m o s t of t h o s e who took m a n u fa ctu rin g jo b s in oth er a r e a s stayed at the sam e o ccu p a tio n a l le v e l, and so m e m o v e d up. A lm o s t a ll o f the n on m igra n t e m p lo y e d , in c o n tr a s t, e x p e r ie n c e d m a jo r in d u stria l and o c c u p a tion a l sh ifts. F o r the m o s t p a rt, the e m p lo y e d n on m igran t s u ffe r e d a m a jo r d e c lin e in h is e a rn in g s. On the oth er hand, the o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s and the m ig r a n ts e a rn e d su b sta n tia lly m o r e than they had at the c a r sh op s. H om etow n attach m en t, t h e g r e a te s t o b s ta c le to g e o g r a p h ic m o b i l i t y , w as stron g enough to k e e p m an y w o r k e r s in the com m u n ity ev en though t h e y knew they c o u l d obtain jo b s at h igh er sk ill le v e ls and su b sta n tia lly h igh er e a rn in g s e l s e w h e r e . M o st o f the o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s (79 p e r c e n t) and m ig ra n ts (73 p e r c e n t) had sought o r a c c e p te d o u t -o fa r e a e m p lo y m e n t on ly a fte r a t le a s t 2 m on th s o f u n e m p l o y m e n t in the M t. V e rn o n a r e a . E ig h t y -s ix p e r c e n t o f the o u t -o f-t o w n w o r k e r s r e p o r te d that they w ou ld p r e fe r jo b s i n M t. V ern on , and on ly a fe w m ade t h e i r re tu rn co n tin gent upon w a g e s as high as in th e ir ou to f-to w n jo b s . M o st o f the m ig ra n ts a l so h oped fo r a n in c r e a s e in jo b o p en in gs in M t. V e rn o n and w e re w illin g to m ake som e fin a n cia l s a c r if ic e in o r d e r to re tu rn th e re . Som e o f the o ld e r w o r k e r s w e r e un able to s e c u r e e m p l o y m e n t in oth er a r e a s and o th e rs did not seek e m p lo y m en t e ls e w h e r e b e ca u se they b e lie v e d they w ould not be a c c e p te d . H o m e o w n e r40 ship w as another o b s ta cle to g e o g ra p h ic m o b ility b e ca u s e the w o r k e r s w e re r e luctant to s e ll o r ren t th eir h o m e s in a d e p r e s s e d m a rk e t. F in a lly , o p tim ism k e p t m any d i s p l a c e d w o r k e r s w a iti n g f o r j o b o p p o r t u n i t i e s i n M t. V ern on . The a p p ro x im a te ly 3 0 ,0 0 0 w eek s o f un em ploym en t i n s u r a n c e b e n e fits , a fa c t o r in slow in g m i g r a t i o n , la r g e ly e lim in a ted the need f o r pu b lic o r p r i vate r e l ie f during that p e r io d and p r o v id ed m u ch n eeded in co m e fo r the un em p lo y e d , th eir fa m ilie s , and the c o m m unity at la r g e . W elfa re aid in c r e a s e d m a rk e d ly , h o w e v e r, fo r th ose who e x hausted th eir b e n e fits. T o so lv e the un em ploym en t p r o b le m , a num ber of lo c a l o rg a n iz a tio n s w e r e a c tiv e ly seeking to a ttra ct new in d u stry in o r d e r to cr e a te new jo b s and s o u r c e s o f in co m e fo r the com m u n ity. F r o m the point o f v ie w o f the u nem p lo y e d and o f the com m u n ity at la r g e , the solu tion to the p r o b le m a p p ea red to lie in t h e a ttra ctio n o f n e w in d u stry . W ithout new in d u stry , it w as fe a r e d that unem ploym en t ra te s w ould re m a in high, y ou n ger w o r k e r s a n d high s c h o o l a n d c o lle g e g ra d u a tes w ould b e lo s t to the com m u n ity, p r o p e r ty v a lu es w ould d e c lin e , in c o m e s w ould fa ll, ca p ita l r e s o u r c e s w ould be unused, and the c o m m unity w ould tend to stagnate. A num ber o f org a n iz a tio n s w e r e a c tiv e ly p rom otin g new i n d u s t r y at the tim e o f the su rv ey . M t. V ern on New In d u stries, I n c ., had b een fo r m e d , the In d u strial D ev elop m en t C om m ittee o f the C h am ber o f C o m m e r c e had been e s ta b lis h e d , and the w o r k e r s th e m s e lv e s had cr e a te d the J e ffe r s o n County In d u strial O rg a n iza tion . A t the tim e o f the study, little p r o g r e s s had been m ade i n p r o viding new jo b s . Tw o o f the o r g a n iz a tio n s, h o w e v e r, w e re s till in the fo r m a tive stage a n d t h e th ird , M t. V ern on New In d u stries, w as h a n d i c a p p e d by l i m i t e d funds and r e s t r ic t io n s in its c h a r te r . A lthough th ere w e r e d i f f e r e n ce s o f opin ion as to t h e m eth od s to be u sed in attractin g new in d u stry , a ll g ro u p s had the sam e g o a l o f cre a tin g new jo b s and s o u r c e s o f in co m e f o r the com m u n ity. A p p e n d ix A Design o f Study and Sam pling A p p e n d ix B M a il Q uestionnaire Personal In te rv ie w Schedule 41 Appendix A. Design of Study and Sampling The problem s which occasioned this s t u d y m ay be sum m arized briefly a s follow s: 1. Since the labor m arket a re a had a surplus of labor before the shutdown, large num bers of those l a i d off faced extended unemployment if t h e y sought jo bs in the local labor m arket, or, as a m ajor altern ative, m igrated from the community with the attendant disruption of fam ily and so cial tie s and problem s of beginning anew in a strange communi ty. 2# F o r many of th e w orkers over 45, outm igration was not a suitable a l ternative because of the d i f f i c u l t i e s m iddle-age w orkers have in securing factory employment. 3. F o r some w o rk ers--th ose m ost attractive to em ployers because of age, p articu lar s k i l l s , o r other fa c to r s- reem ploym ent in the lo cal labor m arket a re a w as not a m ajor problem , but for many o f these w orkers employment at com parable or even higher lev e ls of skill w as available only at lower w ages. 4. F o r other w orkers, self-em p loy ment w as an alternative with the m ajor choices being farm ing, o d d jo b s, and sm all b u sin ess. Many of them already were fa r m e r s but they had been work ing in the car s h o p s , in m ost c a se s , because t h e i r fa rm s were sm all, the land relatively poor, and their farm in com es l o w. O b t a i n i n g an adequate income from odd jo b s or from o p erat ing a sm all b u s i n e s s (such a s a g as station o r a gro cery sto re) w as d iffi cult in a community with a h i g h level of unemployment, 5. F o r the community a s a whole, the m ajor altern atives w ere, on the one hand, to undergo the s l o w p ro c e ss of reducing unemployment through outmi gration and a shrinkage in population or, on the other hand, to seek to bring in new m a n u f a c t u r i n g plants and other so u rces of new jo b s. 6. The community faced other prob lem s a s a re su lt of th e shutdown and the reduced average income of its pop ulation. These problem s included i n c re a se d burdens on public re lie f with, at the sam e tim e, reduced tax revenues; the lo s s to other com m unities of some of the m ore am bitious and able m em bers of the labor fo rce, a t all occupational lev e ls; a n d potentially larg e lo s s e s in incom es of trade and s e r v i c e indus tr ie s. In seeking to understand the nature of these problem s, the m o r e specific re se a rc h questions were: 1. How much u n e m p i o y m e n t oc curred a s a d irect re su lt of the shut down? 2. Were t h e r e significant d iffe r ences in c h a ra c te ristic s between those who suffered short periods of unemploy ment and those w h o w ere out of work for an extended period of tim e? 3. Who w ere the unemployed m ore than 2 y e a r s after the shutdown? How many of t h e s e h a d been continuously unemployed and what fa c to rs were a s s o ciated with s u c h extensive unemploy m ent? 4. What w as the role of unemploy ment insurance after the shutdown? 5. What happened to those who stayed in the Mt. Vernon labor m arket a re a ? Why did they stay ? H ow m a n y were 43 fully employed a n d what kinds of jo b s did they have? How did they com pare their new jo b s with their car shop em ploym ent? 6. How many were le s s than fully employed, either because of short hours of work, or subsistence earn in gs? What k i n d s of j o b s did the underemployed have ? 7. Of those who found jo b s in other labor m a r k e t a r e a s, h ow many kept their fam ilies in o r near Mt. Vernon (in this study called out-of-town work e r s ) and how many m o v e d away with their fam ilie s (that is , m ig r a n ts)? How were d ecision s made to move or not to m o v e when j o b s were found in other are as? 8. What kind of jo b s were found in other labor m arket a r e a s ? 9. How did the out-of-town w orkers a n d m igran ts com pare their jo b s with their f o r m e r jo b s at th e c a r sh ops? How did they perceive and analyze their o verall situation in te rm s of economic and fam ily p ro b lem s? 10. Under what conditions would the out-of-town w orkers a n d m igran ts be willing to accept e m p l o y m e n t in Mt. Vernon? Did they want to return a n d what did they expect in the way of w ages and working conditions? 11. Was age a factor of sp ecial im portance in unemployment, underemploy ment, and m igration ? 12. Did the shutdown bring about an in cre ase in the retirem ent and se m ire tirem en t of laid -o ff w o rk ers? 13. What was the im pact of the shut down on t h e com m ercial and b u sin ess life of the community? 14. How did busin essm en view the problem of unemployment and the p ro s p ects for new industry? 15. What steps were being taken to secu re n e w so u rces of employment in Mt. Vernon and w h a t were the p ro s p e c ts? 44 A ll available data were analyzed in order to find the an sw ers to the preced ing questions. Fu rth er detail concern ing p rocedu res in sam pling the nonre spondents to the m ail questionnaire and in o b t a i n i n g a sam ple of the survey population for p erson al interview s fo l lows, A stratified s a m p l e , which would rep resen t the m ajor categ o rie s of em ployment statu s and r e s i d e n c e , was constructed on the b a s is of the num bers and the age d i s t r i b u t i o n within each stratum , a s shown by the question n aires. Included within the sam ple, also , w as a proportionate group of nonrespondents to the questionnaire; their distribution within the se v e ra l stra ta w as made by assum ing an age distribution com para b l e with that of the respondents. The interview sam ple w as not, th ere fore, an exact probability sam ple, but scien tific s a m p l i n g p rocedu res were u s e d a s a guide. In effect, it w as a stratified s a m p l e with varying ratio s designed to obtain a n optimum a llo ca tion of respondents. The size of each sam ple c ell--th at is , the subsam ple for each stratu m --w as d e t e r m i n e d by a form ula41 which accounted for the e s ti m ated age d i s t r i b u t i o n w i t h i n the stratum and the estim ated cost o f ob taining interview s. S u b sa m p le of m ail q u e s tio n n a ir e non r e sp o n d e n ts Of the 1,908 individuals in the su r vey population, 383 (20 percent) failed to respond after tw o followup le tte r s. L e tte rs to a n o t h e r 72 p e r s o n s (3.8 percent) were returned undelivered after three m ailin gs. ’The number of p erson s not reached on the f i r s t m ailing w as higher than 72, but some new a d d re sse s were obtained b y m e a n s of telephone c a lls in the Mt. Vernon are a . When it w as determ ined t h a t there were 455 nonrespondents (23. 8 p e rc e n t), a subsam ple of the nonrespondents w as obtained in order to p erm it an an aly sis o f a n y significant differen ces between 41S e e fo rm u la on p a g e 45. respondents and nonrespondents. The following form ula for a random sam ple w as u s e d to calculate the size o f the sub sam ple: „ Ns ■ 0 1 N S +1 w h e r e Ns = population rem aining, and n = the subsam ple siz e. This form ula a ssu m e s certain universe valu es and is based u p o n the gen eral form ula given by Hansen, Hurwitz, and Madow. ® Application of the form ula called for 82 a d d i t i o n a l questionnaires from a random sam ple of the nonrespondents. This random sam ple could not be drawn from the entire rem aining population of 455, because the a d d re sse s of 72 p e r sons were u n k n o w n and some o f the o t h e r nonrespondents w e r e living in w i d e l y scattered p laces such a s L os A ngeles, Brooklyn, and D allas. F u r ther, although the budget for the study perm itted interview s with a sam ple o f nonrespondents living in vario u s p laces in Illin ois, it did not perm it interview s with those living in Indiana, M isso u ri (except for St. L o u is), and W isconsin, or any extensive search for nonrespondents in a r e a s where i t w as planned to interview m igran ts. Completion of question n aires by non respondents no longer living in the Mt. Vernon a re a , th erefore, presented sp e cial p roblem s. B ecau se of the c o sts of finding nonrespondents who w e r e m i gran ts, it w as d e c i d e d t o obtain the minimum number of 82 nonrespondents in the Mt, Vernon a re a with a random sam ple from th e available a d d re sse s, and, in addition, to s e c u r e a s many questionnaires as feasib le from nonre spondents living in the a r e a s where in terview s with m igran ts would b e con ducted. The 82 questionnaires were obtained from p r e v i o u s nonrespondents in the Mt. Vernon a re a but only 4 additional M . H. H a n s e n , W .N . H u r w it z , and W. G. M ad ow , S a m p le S u r v e y M eth o d s and T h e o r y (N ew Y o rk , Joh n W ile y and S o n s, Inc. 1953) v o l . I, p. 1 2 7 . question n aires were filled out b y non respondents living in other a r e a s. These four w e r e also interview ed. Thus, a total of 86 questionnaires w as obtained from the 383 p erson s who presum ably had received in itial question n aires but had not responded. A n a ly sis of s u b s a m p le of n o n r e sp o n d e n ts A s a re su lt of the inability to include a proportionate number of m igran ts in the subsam ple, only about 5 p e r c e n t of the sub sam ple were m igran ts, com pared with 19 p e r c e n t who submitted m ail retu rn s. The out-of-town work er proportion of th e subsam ple is a l m ost i d e n t i c a l w i t h that of the r e s p o n d e n t sam ple and the nonmigrant proportion is g re a te r (70 percent, com pared with 58 p ercen t). Only about 10 p e r c e n t of the sub sam ple were unemployed o r underem p l o y e d , com pared with 24 percent of those who responded by m ail. Thirtyone percent of th e s u b s a m p l e were fa rm e rs, com pared w i t h 19 percent of the m ail respondents. The subsam ple, as a group, also represen ted le s s un employment during the total period fol lowing layoff, with about o n e -h a lf un employed for 2 weeks or le s s after the layoff, w hereas only 24 percent in the m ail sam ple were unemployed that short a tim e; only 12 p e r c e n t w ere unem ployed a y ear o r m ore, com pared with 31 p e r c e n t for the m ail respondents. The sub sam ple group not only reported le s s unemployment but also had stead ier work since the shutdown--64 percenthad been on t h e i r jo b s 2 y e a r s or longer w hereas only 3 5 percent o f the la rg e r group h a d been a s long as 2 y e a rs in their current jo b s. In a d d i t i o n , 71 p e r c e n t were still on their f ir s t job since the shops closed, com pared with 53 percent of the la rg e r group. Fin ally 56 percent of the subsam ple found their f ir s t job after layoff from the car shops in 2 w eeks or le s s , com pared with only 27 percent o f those who submitted the m ail qu estion n aires. In m ost other re sp e c ts, there were no significant d ifferen ces between th e 45 nonrespondent subsam ple and the m ail resp on se sam ple. C ar shop experience w as sim ila r, b u t the subsam ple group had slightly lower average sk ill le v e ls, had commuted slightly g re a ter d istan ces, had slightly sh orter se rv ice , and had a slightly e a r lie r date of layoff. P ro p o r tions of the two sam ple groups who were laid off, applied for unemployment com pensation benefits, and received no bene fits were very c lo se. Proportions o f those with current jo b s in m anufactur ing and of the currently self-em ployed were also very clo se. The t y p e s of job shifts (industry and occupation) were quite sim ila r except to the extent that these data reflected, for the subsam ple, the higher proportions in farm ing a n d the sm alle r proportions of unemployed and underemployed. With re sp ec t to p erson al d a t a , the sub sam ple m atched the m ail sam ple on m arital statu s, children under 18, and y e a r s of resid en ce in Mt. Vernon. In age, there w as little difference except for the proportion of the sub sam ple in the 55-64 age group, w i t h 46 percent o v e r 45 y e a r s of age, com pared with 52 percent in the la rg e r sam ple. The sub sam ple group had somewhat m ore e d u c a t i o n , on the av erage, in that a higher proportion had com pleted high school. Reflecting the u n d errepre sentation o f m igran ts, homeowner ship while a t the shops had been somewhat higher: 81. 5 percent, com pared w i t h 73. 3 percent; a lso for those in the sub sam ple, homeowner ship dropped le s s in the period after the shutdown--to 80. 2 com pared with 70. 4 percent. Fin ally, a s o m e w h a t higher proportion of the subsam ple lived in outlying p a rts of the labor m arket a re a , that is , beyond the Mt. Vernon ru ra l rou tes. In conclusion, the sub sam ple did not differ m arkedly from the la rg e r sam ple in p e r s o n a l c h a r a c te r istic s. It re p resented s o m e w h a t m ore the r u r a l dw ellers who were l e s s firm ly attached to the car s h o p s or at le a st le s s de pendent upon them a s a source of em ployment. M o r e im portant, however, the subsam ple group represen ted those who found satisfa cto ry jo b s in the lo cal a re a shortly after the shutdown (or in 46 the ca se of fa r m e r s , those who already had th em ). S a m p lin g d e s ig n fo r in te r v ie w s The form ula used for the interview s is b a s e d on f o r m u l a s presented by Hansen, Hurwitz, and M adow ,43 P ro fe s s o r Robert F e rb e r, Bureau of E c o nomic and B u sin e ss R esearch , U niver sity of Illin ois, provided advice on the application of the form u las to the p a rti cular problem s of this study. The form ula u s e d is the following: op t. nh = N t' J S l ' / ' / C * _ w h e re in = ^ P h Oh The sym bols indicate the following: n is the sam ple siz e ; h re p resen ts a s t r a tum; N is the total n u m b e r ; S is the standard deviation based on the age data obtained in the m ail qu estion n aires; C is the cost factor; P is the proportion of respondents under 45 y e a r s o f age; and Q is the proportion of respondents 45 y e a rs of age or over. Application of the form ula to the data from the m ail questionnaire retu rn s is shown in table A - l. E xperience w i t h t h e resultin g stratified sub sam ples in the field is shown in table A - 2. In table A - l, the n suggested” sam ple distribution ( c o l u m n 13) i s based in p art upon a n estim ated distribution o f nonrespondents to the q u e s t i o n n a i r e . This estim ated distribution w as calcu lated on the b a sis of the age d istrib u tion of th e nonrespondents, since this item of inform ation w as available from union re co rd s. A s previously pointed o ut , nonrespondents were m ore likely than respondents to have obtained em ployment in the Mt. Vernon a re a sh o rt ly after being laid off at the car shops. 43Ibid. , pp. 205-209, 220-222. TABLE A - 1. Stratified sam ple for personal in terview s, June-July 1956 (5) (4) (3) E stim ated E stim ated Ph=distribution distribution P ercen tage P ercen t under age Respondents distribution nonrespon- of survey 452 population d en ts1 by m ail re spondents Stratum T o ta l....................... (8) P ercen tage 4 5 and over2 s;Standard deviation colum n 4 — --- 308 54. 5 45. 5 0. 498 1 5 3 .4 87 354 62. 8 37. 2 . 483 171. 0 11. 6 41 210 42. 6 5 7 .4 .4 9 6 •104. 2 12. 0 34 209 32. 3 67. 7 . 469 98. 0 124. 7 180. 2 — 383 31, 836 238 16. 4 70 267 18. 4 169 175 M igrants • « . . • • * • 195 275 13. 4 1 9 .0 54 89 249 364 52. 1 57. 8 47. 9 42. 2 . 501 . 495 Total in labor force • ■ « . . . • * • • Out of labor fo rce. 1 ,3 1 9 134 90. 8 9. 2 375 8 1 ,6 9 4 142 -12. 6 — 87. 4 — TABLE A - l. Stratified sam ple for p ersonal in terview s, June-July 19 5 6 - -Continued (10) (9) Stratum Em ployed, Mt. Vernon ad d ress Em ployed, Mt. Vernon area a d d r e ss............. Underem ployed, Mt. Vernon area Unem ployed, Mt. Vernon a rea ................... Out-of-town w ork ers . . . . . . M ig ra n ts............. 'x. colum n 7 -- 100. 0 Unemployed, Mt. Vernon a r e a . . . . Out-of-town work- (7) __ 1 ,4 5 3 Em ployed, Mt. Vernon address t Em ployed, Mt. Vernon area ad d ress . . . . . . . . Underem ployed, Mt. Vernon (6) (2) (1) an (12) Suggested sam ple distribution w v c iT 1. 41 108. 8 27. 2 109 (14) (15) Sample of Sample of Interview s respondents4 non-respon com pleted dents® (13) (16) Net change colum n 16 m inus colum n 13 93 16 120 + 11 2. 24 76. 3 19. 0 76 56 20 90 + 14 2 .0 52. 1 13. 0 52 42 10 35 -17 2 .0 49. 0 12. 2 49 41 8 34 -15 2.0 3. 46 6 2 .4 52. 1 1 5 .6 13. 0 62 52 49 31 13 21 50 56 -12 +4 400 Total in labor fo rce . . . . . . . . . Out of labor f o r c e ................. 400. 7 100. 0 312 88 385 -15 -- -- — -- — — 15 + 15 Total number in s a m p le ............. — — — - — - 400 0 lNonrespondents who receiv ed q u estion n aires but did not reply. If the 72 individuals who did not respond and w ere not contacted and w ere thus not available for the nonrespondent subsam ple or the in terview sam ple are added, the total of 4 5 5 nonrespondents as indicated, in table 1, footnote 1, are accounted for. This colum n g iv es the estim ated d is tribution of nonrespondents on the assum ption of an age distribution com parable to that of respondents. Union data showed that 5 9 .9 p ercent of the nonrespondents w ere under 4 5 y e a r s of age. 2T hese age data are from the m ail questionnaire resp o n ses. 31, 836 plus the 72 individuals not contacted equal the su rvey population of 1 ,9 0 8 . 4A sam ple of 312 respondents equals 2 3 . 6 5 percent of the 1 , 3 1 9 respondents in labor fo rce. 5This is the estim ated distribution of nonrespondents. A sam ple of 88 nonrespondents to the questionnaire equals 23. 5 percent of the 37 5 nonrespondents in the labor fo rce who rece iv e d m ail questionnaire schedu les. 47 T A B L E A - 2. A n a ly s is of use of O r ig in a l S tra tu m O r ig in a l in t e r v ie w s a m p le 1 T o t a l ............................................ E m p lo y e d , M t . V e r n o n a d d r e s s ............................................ E m p lo y e d , M t . V e r n o n a r e a a d d r e s s ............................... U n d e r e m p lo y e d , M t . V e r n o n a r e a ............................... U n e m p lo y e d , M t . V e r n o n a r e a ...................................................... O u t -o f -t o w n w o r k e r s . . . . N o n r e s p o n d e n t s ............................ M i g r a n t s ............................................... !See t a b le 2B e c a u s e e n ts w e r e 400 93 a lt e r n a t e s p e rs o n a l s a m p le R e fu s a ls 3 - - 56 2 -- 1 - - in t e r v ie w s a m p le A lt e r n a t e s Not lo c a te d Num be r d ra w n Not lo c a t e d Net num be r Num be r used 40 192 58 134 43 1 5 2 3 1 3 13 3 10 3 7 1 6 14 16 28 4 8 16 24 10 8 12 85 42 41 49 67 z 52 in 6 3 4 23 3 10 9 8 3 5 23 1. o f p r o b l e m s o f l o c a t i n g n o n r e s p o n d e n t s i n a r e a s o t h e r t h a n M t . V e r n o n , 21 r e s p o n d a d d e d t o t h e 31 c a l l e d f o r b y c o l u m n ( 1 3 ) , t a b l e A - l , (S a m p le o f r e s p o n d e n t s ) . in c lu d e s n o n re s p o n d e n ts ; 4 w e re in t e r v ie w e d . B e c a u s e o f th is a n d b e c a u s e s o m e o f th e re s p o n d e n ts c h a n g e d t h e ir e m p lo y m e n t a n d r e s id e n c e s ta tu s b e tw e e n th e t im e t h e y c o m p le te d t h e q u e s tio n n a ir e a n d th e tim e o f th e in t e r v ie w , th e d is t r ib u t io n o f th e r e s p o n d e n ts in t e r v ie w e d d id n o t c o r r e s p o n d e x a c tly w it h th e s u g g e s te d d i s t r i b u t i o n . M o r e th a n th e e s tim a te d n u m b e r o f p e r s o n s e m p lo y e d in th e M t . V e r n o n a r e a w e r e in c lu d e d . T h is is s o b o th b e c a u s e th e r e w e r e m o r e n o n re s p o n d e n ts in t h i s c a te g o r y th a n e x p e c te d a n d b e c a u s e s o m e o f th o s e in th e u n e m p l o y e d o r u n d e r e m p lo y e d c a t e g o r ie s , a c c o r d in g t o q u e s tio n n a ir e r e s p o n s e s , h a d m o v e d in to th e f u lly e m p lo y e d c a te g o r ie s b y th e d a te o f th e in t e r v ie w . T h e u n e m p lo y e d a n d u n d e r e m p lo y e d f i g u r e s a r e lo w e r th a n e x p e c te d t h e r e f o r e , n o t o n ly b e c a u s e s o m e r e s p o n d e n t s h a d -m o v e d o u t o f th e s e c a t e g o r ie s b u t a ls o b e c a u s e th e s e c a t e g o r ie s w e r e le s s w e ll r e p r e s e n te d i n th e n o n r e s p o n d e n t g r o u p . A lt h o u g h t h e in t e r v ie w s a m p le w a s in t e n d e d t o e x c lu d e p e r s o n s o u t o f th e l a b o r f o r c e , 15 p e r s o n s i n t h i s c a t e g o r y w e r e in c lu d e d . S o m e w e re n o n 48 r e s p o n d e n ts w h o s e s ta tu s w a s n o t k n o w n p r io r to th e in t e r v ie w a n d s o m e w e r e re s p o n d e n ts w h o r e t ir e d a fte r th e y h a d c o m p le te d q u e s tio n n a ir e s . B e c a u s e o f th e s e v a r io u s f a c to r s , i t w a s im p o s s ib le t o e s t im a t e th e u n d e r a n d o v e r - r e p r e s e n t a t io n in th e s e v e r a l s tr a ta in c o m p a r i s o n w it h th e m a il q u e s tio n n a ir e r e t u r n s . T h e d a ta s u g g e s te d , h o w e v e r, s o m e o v e r r e p r e s e n t a t io n o f a r e a e m p lo y e d a n d s b m e u n d e r r e p r e s e n t a t io n o f u n d e r e m p lo y e d a n d u n e m p lo y e d in th e in t e r v ie w s a m p le . B e c a u s e th e y w e r e w id e ly s c a tte r e d , th e m i g r a n t s a l s o r e c e iv e d s p e c ia l h a n d lin g . W it h a lim it e d b u d g e t, i t w a s n o t p o s s ib le t o r u n a r a n d o m a n d p r o p o r t io n a t e s a m p le o f m ig r a n t s . T o o b ta in th e n u m b e r in d ic a te d b y th e f o r m u la , i t w a s d e c id e d to o b ta in th e s e in t e r v ie w s in la b o r m a r k e t a r e a s w h e r e r e la t iv e ly la r g e n u m b e r s o f th e m ig r a n t s h a d b e c o m e r e s id e n ts . O n th e a s s u m p tio n t h a t a r e p r e s e n t a t iv e s a m p le o f e x p e r i e n c e s w o u ld b e o b ta in e d i f th e s e a r e a s w e r e a t v a r y in g d is ta n c e s f r o m M t. V e r n o n , th e f o u r a r e a s o f g r e a t e r S t. L o u is - - S t . L o u is , E a s t S t. L o u is , G r a n - i t e C i t y , a n d A l t o n ( 85-100 m i l e s ) ; D e c a t u r (120 m i l e s ) ; P e o r i a (200 m i l e s ) ; a n d S o u t h C h i c a g o (270 m i l e s ) w e r e c h o s e n . A l l e x c e p t th e c it y o f S t. L o u is a r e i n I l l i n o i s . O f t h e 56 p e r s o n a l i n t e r v i e w s w i t h m i g r a n t s , 21 w e r e h e l d i n t h e g r e a t e r C h i c a g o a r e a , 18 i n t h e g r e a t e r S t . L o u i s a r e a , 12 i n a n d a r o u n d D e c a tu r , a n d 5 in th e P e o r ia a re a . S e c o n d , a p r o p o r tio n a te n u m b e r o f n o n r e s p o n d e n t m ig r a n ts w a s n o t s o u g h t, b e c a u s e so m a n y o f th e o u t-o f-a re a a d d r e s s e s w e r e in a c c u r a t e . I n s t e a d , a ll o f th e k n o w n p e r s o n s in th e s u r v e y p o p u la tio n in e a c h o f th e f o u r a r e a s , in c lu d in g n o n r e s p o n d e n ts , w e r e s e le c te d as s a m p l e s . T h e in te r v ie w e r s w e re in s tr u c te d to m a k e n o m o r e th a n t w o c a lls a t e a c h a v a ila b le a d d r e s s in e a c h o f th e a r e a s u n t il th e r e q u ir e d n u m b e r o f in t e r v ie w s w a s o b ta in e d . T h e n u m b e r o f in t e r v ie w s s o u g h t i n e a c h a r e a w a s p r o p o r t i o n a t e t o th e s iz e o f th e g r o u p o f m ig r a n t s i n e a c h a r e a . The in t e r v ie w e r s w e r e in s t r u c t e d to c o m b in e a r a n d o m s e le c t io n f r o m t h e a d d r e s s e s th e y h a d w it h th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f a n e f f ic ie n t r o u tin g th r o u g h th e a r e a , b e c a u s e o f th e la r g e g e o g r a p h ic a l s iz e o f e a c h o f th e a r e a s in w h ic h in t e r v ie w in g w a s t o ta k e p la c e , w it h s o m e r e s p o n d e n t s a s m u c h a s 30 m i l e s a p a r t . A t v a r io u s p la c e s t h r o u g h o u t t h is r e p o r t , th e in t e r v ie w s a m p le f in d in g s h a v e b e e n c o m p a r e d w it h t h e f in d in g s f r o m th e t o t a l n u m b e r o f q u e s tio n n a ir e s ( r e s p o n d e n ts p lu s n o n r e s p o n d e n ts w h o c o m p le te d q u e s tio n n a ir e s a f t e r p e r s o n a l c o n ta c t) . T h e s im ila r it y o f r e s u lts in th e in t e r v ie w a n d q u e s tio n n a ir e s a m p le s , a s w e ll a s th e lo g ic a l e x p la n a t io n s f o r th e fe w d if f e r e n c e s fo u n d , in d ic a te th a t th e d a t a f o r th e s e v e r a l s tr a ta in th e in t e r v ie w s a m p le r e f le c t th e p o p u la tio n s w it h in e a c h s tr a tu m w it h a c o n s id e r a b le d e g r e e o f a c c u ra c y . I t is e s tim a te d t h a t t h e 400 i n t e r v i e w s p r o v i d e d a t a f o r e a c h s tr a tu m th a t a r e a c c u r a te w it h in a m a x i m u m s t a n d a r d d e v i a t i o n o f 2. 5 p e r c e n t. T h is m e a n s th a t th e m a x im u m s a m p lin g e r r o r s h o u ld b e p lu s o r m in u s 5 p e r c e n t a g e p o i n t s a t t h e 95 - p e r c e n t le v e l o f c o n fid e n c e . T h e s a m p lin g e r r o r f o r th e q u e s t i o n n a i r e r e s u it s is , o f c o u r s e , v e r y m u c h s m a l l e r , s i n c e 80 p e r c e n t o f th e t o t a l s a m p le is in c lu d e d . B e c a u s e th e in t e r v ie w s a m p le u n d e r re p re s e n ts o r o v e r re p re s e n ts s o m e o f th e e m p lo y m e n t a n d r e s i d e n c e c a te g o r ie s , c o m b i n e d d a ta f o r th e t o t a l g r o u p o f la id - o f f w o r k e r s u s e d in th e t e x t h a v e b e e n ta k e n o n ly f r o m th e q u e s tio n n a ir e d a ta . 49 Appendix B Mail Questionnaire UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS U n it e d S ta te s B u d g e t B u r e a u N o . 44-5606 A p p r o v a l e x p ir e s D e c e m b e r 31, 1956 INSTITUTE OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CONFIDENTIAL SURVEY OF EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE OF PRODUCTION AND MAINTENANCE WORKERS EMPLOYED BY THE PRESSED STEEL CAR COMPANY, MOUNT VERNON, ILLINOIS, IN 1953 AND 1954 P le a s e r e t u r n b e fo r e A p r i l 1, in th e a tta c h e d , s ta m p e d e n v e lo p e to I n s t it u t e o f L a b o r a n d I n d u s t r ia l R e la tio n s , U n iv e r s it y o f I llin o is , C h a m p a ig n , I llin o is T h e p u r p o s e o f th is s u r v e y is to d is c o v e r h o w a n d w h e r e w o r k e r s f in d jo b s w h e n th e p la n t w h e r e th e y w e r e w o r k in g s h u ts d o w n c o m p le te ly in a n a re a w h e r e e m p lo y m e n t o p p o r t u n it ie s a r e lim it e d . A l l in f o r m a t io n o n th is f o r m w i l l b e k e p t strictly confidential and will be seen only by employees of the Institute of Industrial and Labor Relations of the University of Illinois. I. Y O U R E M P L O Y M E N T A T T H E M O U N T V E R N O N C A R S H O P S . 1. H o w m a n y y e a rs a lto g e th e r d id y o u w o r k a t th e C a r S h o p s ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Y e a r s 2. I n y o u r la s t tw o y e a rs a t th e C a r S h o p s , w h a t w a s y o u r u s u a l o c c u p a tio n ( o r jo b t it le ) ? ____ :_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3. H o w f a r d id y o u tr a v e l f r o m h o m e to w o r k (one w a y )} _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M ile s 4. W h e n d id y o u f in a lly le a v e th e C a r S h o p s ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M o n t h . _______ Y e a r W e r e y o u la id o ff? Y e s Q ] N o [~~| D id y o u q u it? Y e s Q No Q II. 50 AFTER YO U LE FT TH E M O U N T VE R N O N C AR SHOPS FO R TH E LAST T IM E — 1. D id y o u a p p ly f o r u n e m p lo y m e n t c o m p e n s a tio n ? Y e s [~ | N o |~ | I f “Yes” a . H o w m a n y w e e k s o f c o m p e n s a tio n b e n e fits d id y o u d r a w ? _______ W e e k s b . W h y d id y o u r b e n e fits s to p ? (check one) f~~l I f o u n d a jo b (or I e n te r e d m y o w n b u s in e s s ). [~~1 M y b e n e fits w e r e u s e d u p . f~ | O t h e r re a s o n . 2. B e tw e e n th e t im e y o u le f t th e C a r S h o p s f o r th e la s t t im e a n d n o w , h o w m a n y m o n th s altogether w e r e y o u t o t a lly u n e m p lo y e d a n d lo o k in g f o r w o r k ? _ _ _ _ _ _ M o n t h s 3. I f y o u a re n o t w o r k in g n o w , c h e c k th e a n s w e r t h a t a p p lie s to y o u . □ I a m n o t a b le to w o r k . f~~| I h a v e r e t ir e d . D a t e o f r e t i r e m e n t ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M o n t h _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Y e a r (~~| I a m d o in g h o u s e w o r k in m y o w n h o m e . | | I a m a c t iv e ly lo o k in g f o r w o r k . f l O t h e r re a s o n . ( S p e c if y ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 6 8 9 jq 11 J2 j3 j* 16 I I I . W H A T A R E Y O U W O R K I N G A T N O W ? (P le a s e a n s w e r th e s e i f y o u a re d o in g A N Y k in d o f w o r k f o r P A Y o r I N C O M E . If not. g o im m e d ia te ly to Q u e s tio n I V . ) 1. D o y o u w o r k f o r a n e m p lo y e r ? Y e s Q N o Q I f “ Y e s ” Y o u r o c c u p a tio n ( o r jo b t i t l e ) ? ---------------------------------------------------------------N a m e o f C o m p a n y -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------C it y o r T o w n _ ___ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ S t a t e ----------------------------W e r e y o u t o ld a b o u t th is jo b b y — (Check one) [~~| I llin o is S ta te E m p lo y m e n t S e rv ic e ( U n e m p lo y m e n t O f f ic e ) ? □ T h e U n io n ? [ [ ] T h e P re s s e d S te e l C a r C o m p a n y ? Q N o n e o f th e s e ? 2. D o y o u h a v e y o u r o w n b u s in e s s o r f a r m ? Y e s f~ | N o [~ | W h a t k in d of b u s in e s s is it ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ W h e r e is i t lo c a te d ? ( T o w n o r C o u n ty ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3. H o w lo n g h a v e y o u b e e n in y o u r p r e s e n t jo b o r b u s in e s s ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M o n th s a . Is i t y o u r first job or business s in c e y o u le f t th e M o u n t V e r n o n C a r S h o p s ? Yes □ No □ b . I f it is not your first job, h o w lo n g d id i t ta k e to g e t y o u r f ir s t jo b a f t e r y o u le f t th e C a r S h o p s ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M o n t h s 4. D o y o u e a r n in c o m e f r o m a n y o t h e r k in d o f w o r k ? Y e s Q N o [ [ ] 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 If “Yes” I f “Yes” Is it farm? Q Non-farm? Q 24 25 26 27 28 5. I f y o u a re n o w w o r k in g o u ts id e th e M o u n t V e r n o n a re a (too far to commute every day from Mount Vernon) a . W h e n d id y o u s ta r t w o r k in g o u ts id e th e a re a ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M o n t h ________ Y e a r b . H a s y o u r f a m ily m o v e d w it h y o u ? Y e s p~~| N o |~~] 29 30 31 EVERYBODY PLEASE ANSWER FOLLOWING QUESTIONS WHETHER YOU ARE EMPLOYED OR UNEMPLOYED 32 33 IV . O T H E R IN F O R M A T IO N . 1. S e x : M a le F e m a le Q 2. A g e : P le a s e c h e c k y o u r c o r r e c t a g e g r o u p : 14-19 Q 35-44 £ ] 65 a n d o v e r [ [ ] 20-24 □ 45-54 Q 25-34 □ 55-64 □ 3. W h a t is th e h ig h e s t g r a d e o f s c h o o l y o u c o m p le te d ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ G r a d e 4. A r e y o u m a r r ie d ? Q O t h e r ( s in g le , w id o w e d , s e p a ra te d , d iv o r c e d ) ? Q 5. H o w m a n y c h ild r e n u n d e r 18 y e a rs o f a g e d o y o u h a v e ? N o n e Q O n e Q ] T w o [~~] T h r e e Q F o u r F iv e o r m o r e Q 6. H o w m a n y y e a rs h a v e y o u liv e d in o r n e a r M o u n t V e r n o n ( w it h in c o m m u t in g d is ta n c e ) ? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Y e a rs 7. H o m e O w n e r s h ip : a . W h e n y o u w o r k e d a t th e C a r S h o p s , d id y o u o w n y o u r o w n h o m e in o r n e a r M o u n t V e r n o n ( c o m m u t in g d is ta n c e to th e S h o p s ) ? Y e s Q N o Q ] b . D o y o u now o w n y o u r h o m e in o r n e a r M o u n t V e r n o n ? Y e s Q ] N o Q 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 V . Y O U R C O R R E C T A D D R E S S : P le a s e g iv e u s y o u r c o r r e c t p re s e n t h o m e a d d re s s : (N u m b e r) ( S tr e e t o r R o a d ) (T o w n ) ( S ta te ) V I . C O M M E N T S : ( W e w o u ld a p p r e c ia te a n y c o m m e n ts y o u h a v e o n e m p lo y m e n t o r u n e m p lo y m e n t p r o b le m s in th e M o u n t V e r n o n a r e a .) HAVE YOU ANSWERED ALL QUESTIONS? 51 Personal in te rv ie w schedule U . S . B u d g e t B u r e a u N o . 4 4 -5 6 1 4 A p p r o v a l E x p i r e s D e c e m b e r 3 1 ,1 9 5 6 Int. No------------------------UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations CONFIDENTIAL SURVEY OF EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE OF THOSE EMPLOYED BY PRESSED STEEL CAR CO., MT. VERNON, ILLINOIS, IN 1953 AND 1954 Personal Interview Schedule Mail Questionnaire completed? Y es_______ N o________ Name____________________________________________________________________________ — Address______________________________________________________________________________ ____ Age-----------------------------------------------Employed l~1 Unemployed dD Out of L .F . GH —The questionnaire was mailed to every one who worked at the car shops in 1953 or 1954. —A smaller number have been selected at random for personal interviews. —You are one of those selected. —The interviews are important because we can learn more about the effects of the shutdown through personal interview than is possible with the questionnaire. —Any information you give will be kept strictly confidential and will be seen only by staff members of the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations. Interviewer. Date of Interview. A. WORK HISTORY Int. No. 1. JOBS SINCE LEAVING THE CAR SHOPS--FULL TIME AND PART TIME (Primary job for each period listed.) Are you working now? Y e s___No___ Your Dai'ES Fr o m To Yr . Mo. MO. (Start with present job and work back)* RESIDENCE Em p l o y e r 's n a m e ; c i t y (c o u n t y ) o r AT TIME STATE family Us u a l Oc c u p a t i o n a l In d u s t r y assignment' Yr . hours WORKED PER WEEK 2. ADDITIONAL INCOME-PRODUCING WORK AT PRESENT. a. Do you do any farm____ nonfarm_____ work in addition to your regular job? (1) In season, how many hours each week do you normally work at this? (hours) (2) Approximately how much net additional weekly income do you earn from this work? $______ b. At present, is your wife working regularly in paid employment? Y e s____ N o____ I c. Are there others in the family—living with you—who are now working? Y e s___ N o___ Who? d. Do they contribute to the family income? Y es------ N o____ Approximately how much? - Usua l Re a s o n for GROSS WEEKLY LEAVING EMPLOYER EARNINGS OR’CHANGING OCCUPATION ^ 3. PERIODS NOT WORKING—I see there are some periods here when you did not have a job after leaving the car shops. (Working backwards) Between (mo. and yr.)____________and (mo. and yr.)_____________were you looking for work? IF LOOKING, did you write or make personal application? (Include registration at ES or telephone call as personal application.) In what towns (inc. State) did you look? IF NOT LOOKING, why were you not looking for a job (or not able to work)? a. Data for periods not working after leaving the car shops. (1) IF LOOKING. RECORD HOW C ircle Da t e s 1— IF LOOKING DM Fr < Mo. YR. T0 MO. Un e m p l o y m e n t Co m p e n s a t i o n Ap p r o x i m a t e AND WHERE LOOKED 2— 1F NOT LOOKING YR. D id (2) If you apply No. weeks Weekly not l o o k i n g , r e c o r d REASON NOT LOOKING weekly AMOUNT OF INCOME (NET) for U. C. ? OF BENEFITS AMO UN T OTHER THAN UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION i VJJ 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 b. If you did not apply for U.C., why not? Not applicable Q - 4- c. Experience with Social agencies: (1) During your periods of unemployment, did you receive help from any public or private social agencies other than the State Employment Service (e.g., welfare department, church, etc.)? Y e s_________ N o_________ (2) What kind of help did you receive? C ash______________ Advice______ Goods______________ Other (specify) (3) If no on (1), do you know what agencies handle "welfare" aid in the community? (Details) If yes, what agency or agencies helped you? 4. CAR SHOP EXPERIENCE (last 2 years before leaving car shops), a. What was your last job at the car shops? (Begin with last job and work back.) DAIrES T0 F rOM MO. YR. MO. YR. Us u a l USUAL Us u a l OCCUPATIONAL HOURS GROSS WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT PER WEEK EARNINGS 55 - 5- b. Where was your family living during your la st employment at the car shops? -Where were you living?. (town, county) c. How would you compare your usual job at the car shops with the job you have now (if unemployed —the la st job you had)? (If necessary, probe on wages, hours, working condi tions.) CIRCLE appropriate starting words— My present job i s _____ __ My usual job at the car shops was My la st job w a s.______________________ . 5. LONGEST JOB a. What job did you hold for the longest time since World War II (end of 1945)? b. How did you happen to get into this type of work? c. If you are no longer doing this type of work, why did you give it up? B. TRAINING: Since leaving the car shops, have you had any vocational or apprenticeship training? Y es________ No---------- Describe type and extent of such training: C. GEOGRAPHIC MOBILITY AND COMMUNITY ATTACHMENT NOTE: If the respondent has had no jobs since the car shops and is now out of the labor force, ask no further questions. (If coded (2) on question 3a , columns 2 and 3.) ALL OTHER RESPONDENTS can be divided into three GROUPS. THESE ARE: A—NONMIGRANT. Now lives and works in Mt. Vernon area. (Include respondent who is now unemployed) B—COMMUTING MIGRANT. Lives in area, but now working outside. C—NONCOMMUTING MIGRANT. Lives and works outside Mt. Vernon area. ASK REMAINING QUESTIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RESPONDENT’S CATEGORY. A. Ask of all Nonmigrants: (plus those who, in response to A-5, say their present job inMt. Vernon is worse than their usual car shop job.) 1. What are the reasons that you have preferred to stay in the Mt. Vernon area since the car shop closed? 2. What are the minimum conditions under which you would accept a job outside the Mt. Vernon area? (Probe, if necessary, on type of work, hours, housing, schools, etc.) 56 3. In the last few months, did you know of any specific jobs outside the Mt. Vernon area for which you were qualified that you decided not to apply for? Y es----------- No----------(Answers: Be sure to distinguish between (1), (2), and (3). ) 4. Even though you are working now, are you still trying to find a new job? Y es________ No__ ;______ If "Y e s” : What kind of a job? Where?---------------,-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------B. Ask of All Commuting Migrants: 1. Your job i s in (place)------------------------------------ .-------------------------------- but you have kept your family in Mt. Vernon. Why have you kept your family here? 2. Would you rather work in Mt. Vernon than in (name the area)____________________________ Y es________ No_________ If wY e sw: What kind of job would you take in Mt. Vernon (probe, if necessary, on type of work, pay, hours)? If ”No” : Why did you say that? 3. In the last few months did you know of any jobs in the Mt. Vernon area for which you were qualified that you decided not to apply for? Y es________ No________ (ON EITHER QUESTION) If "Y e s” : What kind of job was it? Why didn’ t you want it? (Answers: Be sure to distinguish between (1), (2), and (3). ) 4. Even though you are working now, are you still trying to find a new job? Y es----------- No-----------If "Y e s": What kind of job?_________________________________________________________ Where?____________________________________________________________________________ C. Ask of All Noncommuting Migrants: 1. What were your reasons for moving your family away from the Mt. Vernon area? 2. Would you rather work in Mt. Vernon than in (name the area)____________________________ Yes_.......... No__________ 57 -7- If "Y e s” : What kind of job would you take in Mt. Vernon (probe, if necessary, on type of work, pay, hours)? If "No” : Why did you say that? 3. In the la st few months did you know of any jobs in the Mt. Vernon area for which you were qualified that you decided not to apply for? Y es______ No_________ (ON EITHER QUESTION) If "Y e s” : What kind of job was it? Why didn't you want it? (Answers: Be sure to distinguish between (1), (2) , and (3). ) 4. Even though you are working now, are you still trying to find a new job? Y es________ No________ If "Y e s” : What kind of job?---------------------------------------------------------------------------Where?.____________________________________________________________________________ 58 * U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : I960 0 — 555327
@FedFRASER