2025/12/01 by Robert D. Crutchfield, Lauren J. Krivo, Ruth D. Peterson · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Crime Patterns and Interventions #Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies #Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/00380237.2025.2588763
openalex publication_date 2025/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/12/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
This paper evaluates the role of metropolitan labor markets in neighborhood crime. We fit multilevel models with 8,931 tracts as level one units and 87 large metropolitan areas as level two units, finding that metropolitan labor market structure influences neighborhood violent and property crime rates. Neighborhoods in metropolitan areas with more workers in high-level postindustrial primary sector jobs have lower levels of crime. In contrast, neighborhoods in labor markets with more low-level service industry workers (those dominated by secondary sector positions) or a higher concentration in wholesale and transportation industries exhibit higher crime. We also demonstrate that neighborhood labor instability increases violent and property crime more substantially in metropolitan labor markets with a larger low-level service sector.