CUED
Center
for Urban Economic Development
University of Illinois at Chicago
Jobs and Workers in Pilsen:
Analysis of Employment and Industry and Policy Recommendation
Project Number: 316(1)
Report Date: March 1991
Author(s): John Betancur
This study examines labor supply and demand in the Pilsen area. The purpose of the labor demand analysis is twofold: to identify job opportunities in neighborhood industries and to examine changes in the economy. Knowledge of job opportunities allows economic development organizations and others to match training and placement programs with available opportunities in the area. Knowledge of the neighborhood businesses can be used to identify areas of need, target particular industries for assistance, or launch other initiatives aimed at industrial retention and expansion.
Analysis of labor supply is conducted for the purpose of determining the skills of neighborhood residents and their ability to profit from local job opportunities, as well as for identifying training needs in the area. This analysis also provides a description of the locally available labor that can be used as a basis for future industrial development in the area.
Contrary to traditional analyses based on labor supply and demand, this study does not attempt to develop a match between labor demand and supply in the area. By no means can we consider this a closed economy where local jobs should correspond with local workers. Indeed, similar analyses conducted by CUED have suggested that only between 20 and 30% of neighborhood residents work in local firms. Besides, the nature of the data available for this study would not allow such a comparison. Comparisons between labor demand and supply are warranted only so far as they help steer neighborhood job opportunities to residents.
The original target area for this study was Pilsen, also known as the Lower West Side. Since most data, however, are only available at the Zip Code level, we targeted Zip Code 60608. This Zip Code covers an area that is twice as large as the original target--by population size. As Figure 1 shows, the Lower West Side is at the core of this Zip Code with only a small portion east of Halsted (census tracts 3101 and 3102) outside it. Additional census tracts to the North, West, and South are closely linked to the area. Whenever feasible, differences between Zip Code 60608 (the target area) and the Lower West Side were established. To examine job openings listed with the local office of the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), as well as available information on a sector of the local unemployed (those applying for unemployment compensation), the study had to resort to a larger area (see Figure 1) corresponding with service area 0009 of the IDES.
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