Leslie McCall, assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University, will study the regional diversity of U.S. labor markets, exploring why wage inequality is so much more acute in some regions of the United States than in others. While most nationwide studies of the causes of rising inequality focus upon technology, trade, or industrial structure, McCall's subnational, regional perspective reveals the importance of immigration, unemployment, and the retreat of labor market institutions. McCall will provide both a cross-sectional snapshot of the United States at a single point in time, and a moving picture of changes in regional inequality over time. She will also offer a geographical explanation of why racial, educational, and gender inequality can magnify or offset each other.
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