Out of Touch, Out of Bounds

How Social Networks Shape the Labor Market Radii of Women on Welfare in San Francisco

Bibliographic Data

ID11670204
AuthorsKaren Chappie (University of California, Berkeley, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume22
Issue7
Pages617-640
Publication date2001-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2747/0272-3638.22.7.617
OpenAlexW2169273986
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited36

Based on in-depth interviews with women on welfare in San Francisco, this paper examines the spatial extent of the job search and the job search strategies utilized. The reliance of these women on contacts and local work opportunities suggests that the relationship between social networks and daily activity patterns may shape their job search, although other factors, including their lack of education, household responsibilities, lack of appropriate transportation, and lack of familiarity with other neighborhoods, play roles as well. Yet for African American women in particular, working near home may occur more out of necessity than choice, because of their inability to earn more money with longer travel times and their lack of extensive friendship networks and activity patterns. This study has important policy implications for welfare-to-work programs, in particular the importance of developing human capital to compete for better jobs in the formal labor market, but also the possibility of improving work opportunities within the limited labor market radii of low-income women with children. [Key words: social networks, local labor markets, welfare reform.]

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Friendship · Human capital · Labour economics · Market economy · Political science · Social capital · Social Welfare · Sociology · Welfare · Work (physics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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