A Systematic Analysis of Census and Labor Data to Create a Community Profile of Work

Employment and working conditions are recognized as determinants of health. Employment is affected by and effects socioeconomic status and material circumstances. The effects of work on community health are currently being studied through the Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project at the UIC Center for Healthy Work. Greater Lawndale is a community of high economic hardship in the City of Chicago. A community profile was created using publicly available data released by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The profile compares demographic, employment, and housing data for Greater Lawndale to the City of Chicago. Analysis of data from the American Community Survey highlight the inequity between Chicago overall, and Greater Lawndale. Demographic data show that African Americans and Latinos are overrepresented in Greater Lawndale compared to the entire City of Chicago. Employment and education data show that residents of Greater Lawndale work in generally low-skill, low-wage jobs and have lower levels of education compared to Chicago. Overall, Greater Lawndale faces higher rates of poverty than the City of Chicago. The social conditions surrounding this community have an impact on the ability of residents to obtain quality employment with healthy working conditions. Low-wage, low-income employment in turn, impacts the material circumstances and social position of residents of Greater Lawndale.