The quest for a job: an analysis of underemployment among Puerto Rican workers in Puerto Rico

Abstract

The utilization of labor in Puerto Rico is a continuing problem. Researchers have focused their attention on the unemployed but not on the quality of employment. The Labor Utilization Framework (LUF) used in this study examines underemployment in terms of five categories: unemployed, subemployed, involuntary part-time underemployment, low-income underemployment (the working poor), those underemployed due to mismatch (workers who have higher levels of education than required by their jobs), and adequately employed (worker who do not belong to any of the remaining categories). This study examines the quality of jobs available and held by the Puerto Rican population and attempts to determine the factors affecting the utilization of the Puerto Rican labor force. It compares results for Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico to those for Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics in the United States in order to identify the importance of factors unique to the structure of the labor force in Puerto Rico. It was hypothesized that education, occupation, industry, presence of children, age, marital status, sex and disability, would affect the likelihood of being adequately employed and that industrial and occupational structure differences between Puerto Rico and the United States will disadvantage Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico more than the other population groups in the United States. The data used for this study are taken from three different sources: the Public Use Samples of the 1980 U.S. Census of Population and Housing (PUMS), the Current Population Survey of March of 1980, and "Encuesta del Trabajador" (ET). The methodological techniques used includea standardization of percent distribution and logistic regression. The findings generally support the hypotheses. Marginal workers are less likely to be adequately employed than workers who do not possess such characteristics. The results of this study are important not only for Puerto Ricans, but also for other minority group members in the United States. Major implications and limitations of the results are discussed.