Inner city

Abstract

A long history of racial segregation, government policy, demographic trends, and industrial shifts in the labor market has contributed to the growth of disadvantaged and under-resourced inner-city neighborhoods especially in older northern industrial cities. The subsequent social and physical isolation of poor families in joblessness inner-city ghettos has disconnected the poor from job opportunities and the socialization processes associated with regular employment. Economic expansion in the 1990s helped to expand the black middle class but the Great Recession reversed much of these gains. Policies that improve the quality of urban public schools and help grow a workforce that is prepared for a modern economy are discussed.