The Role of Social Capital in Reclaiming Human Capital: A Longitudinal Study of Occupational Mobility among Displaced Steelworkers

Authors

Allison Zippay, Rutgers University

Abstract

This paper examines the employment and income effects of job training, education, and social network contacts over a l0-year period among a random sample of steelworkers who lost jobs to plant closings in the early 1980s in a manufacturing community in Western Pennsylvania. First interviewed in 1987, a majority of the 102 respondents were unemployed or underemployed. A second round of interviews was conducted in 1997 with 87 of the original respondents to examine changes in income and employment status, the types of training and education that had been pursued over the course of 10 years, and their use of social network contacts in the job search process. The study found that short-term training was not effective in providing training-related employment or in advancing hourly wages above the sample mean. Social network contacts were the primary means by which the respondents secured manufacturing work and other skilled positions.

Recommended Citation

Zippay, Allison (2001) "The Role of Social Capital in Reclaiming Human Capital: A Longitudinal Study of Occupational Mobility among Displaced Steelworkers," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 28: Iss. 4, Article 7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.2768
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol28/iss4/7