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Working Paper
The Geography of Job Tasks
The returns to skills and the nature of work differ systematically across labor markets of different sizes. Prior research has pointed to worker interactions, technological innovation, and specialization as key sources of urban productivity gains, but has been limited by the available data in its ability to fully characterize work across geographies. We study the sources of geographic inequality and present new facts about the geography of work using online job ads. We show that the (i) intensity of interactive and analytic tasks, (ii) technological requirements, and (iii) task specialization ...
Working Paper
Eviction and Poverty in American Cities
More than two million U.S. households have an eviction case filed against them each year. Policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels are increasingly pursuing policies to reduce the number of evictions, citing harm to tenants and high public expenditures related to home lessness. We study the consequences of eviction for tenants, using newly linked administrative data from Cook County (which includes Chicago) and New York City. We document that prior to housing court, tenants experience declines in earnings and employment and increases in financial distress and hospital visits. ...
Working Paper
The Parenthood Gap: Firms and Earnings Inequality After Kids
We document the dynamics of career paths around parenthood, capturing worker advancement within firms and across firms of differing pay. Using a new linkage between administrative data on U.S. workers’ fertility and labor-market histories, we show that the parental earnings gap is partly explained by mothers transitioning to lower-paying firms. Firm downgrading is driven by parents who take an extended absence from the labor force. Mothers who move to lower-paying firms see improved job amenities, but less generous fringe benefits. The firm’s contribution to the parental earnings gap ...