Paper long abstract:

Detroit, a large Midwestern industrial city is home to one of the poorest populations in the United States. Many manufacturing jobs in the auto industry that had, since World War II, constituted economic opportunities for Detroit's residents, were in decline by the 1980s. This decline was related primarily to economic restructuring. This process involved a decline in manufacturing employment (which pays high wages) and an increase in service employment (which pays lower wages). The change has had social and economic consequences both for employment opportunities for low skilled workers and for their ability to earn an income to support a household above the poverty level.

This paper uses U.S. Census data on Population and Housing and a Composite Index of Socioeconomic Status to assess the characteristics of neighborhoods most severely impacted by economic restructuring and the struggle of these population groups in Detroit to survive.