The explanation typically given for longer tenure among workers who use informal contacts to find jobs is that relatives and friends reduce uncertainty about the quality of the match between worker and employer. An alternative explanation is that workers rely on informal information sources as a last resort. Such workers remain at their current jobs mainly because they have few alternative choices rather than because of better match quality. This article shows that the two different explanations are simultaneously valid for different types of contacts and can account for differences in the wage effects of job contacts.

The proposition that there is a large and growing black middle class is a major tenet of much recent work on black economic progress. This paper examines one aspect of middle-class status for black families, namely, the stability of high earnings among young male household heads. It finds that while such men are much less likely to have high earnings than are their white counterparts, there are only small racial differences in the stability of high earnings over time.

The proposition that there is a large and growing black middle class is a major tenet of much recent work on black economic progress. This paper examines one aspect of middle-class status for black families, namely, the stability of high earnings among young male household heads. It finds that, while such men are much less likely to have high earnings than are their white counterparts, there are only small racial differences in the stability of high earnings over time.

This article shows that college performance and selectivity have significant effects on earnings. It suggests that work that does not include college performance overstates the effect of college selectivity for Whites and understates it for Blacks. While the size of the effect of college selectivity for Blacks is larger than for Whites, the large Black earnings gain is offset for students whose own Scholastic Aptitude Test scores are significantly below the median of the college they attend. This results from the lower probability of graduation for "mismatched" Blacks and the subsequently lower earnings for those who fail to complete college.