LABOR PARTICIPATION AS A FUNCTION OF SELECTED VARIABLES: A MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS
This research assesses the labor participation rate in the United States as a function of selected demographic factors. The labor participation rate is the proportion of the non institutionalized population aged 16 and over that is included in the civilian labor force, i.e., the proportion of that population segment that seeks paid employment (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994). The demographic factors selected for the assessment of the labor participation rate were as follows:
1. The proportion of African Americans in the total population. The U.S. Department of Labor publications refer to African Americans as "blacks." Thus, the term "blacks" is used in the remainder of this research report.
2. The proportion of women in the civilian labor force.
3. The proportion of four-year college graduates in the total population.
4. The proportion of high school graduates in the total population.
5. The proportion of the total population that is aged 65 or older.
6. The number of new immigrants as a proportion of the total population.
The time period selected for this assessment of labor participation was 1950 through 1994. Data were obtained on an annual basis for each year in the 45-year period.
Multivariate analysis procedures includes those techniques that focus on the structure of simultaneous relationships among three or more variables. There is a wide variety of multivariate procedures available to the researcher. The choice among these techniques depends in part on the focus of the statistical analysis·dependence or independence. Multivariate tests of dependence include multiple regression, discriminate analysis, canonical analysis, multiple classification analysis, automatic interaction detection, and multivariate analysis of variance. Multivariate tests of independence include multidimensional scaling, late...