Return to the Homeland? The Impact of the Great Recession on Employment Outcomes and Labor Mobility for Native Americans

Abstract

We chart the impact of the Great Recession on the employment outcomes of Native Americans, in and outside of their traditional homelands. While increases in unemployment during the Great Recession for Native Americans are comparable to African Americans, employment changes are not. It appears that this difference is the result of Native Americans moving to traditional homelands and withdrawing from the labor force. Net of this move to traditional homelands, the employment response in reservations to the Great Recession was muted relative to outside of homelands. To further investigate this phenomenon, we develop actual versus predicted employment rates based on the occupational and industrial structure of employment, differentiating Native Americans by whether they live in a traditional homeland.