An Investigation of Urbanization's Effects on Socioeconomic Status through the Use of Labor Market and Urbanization Theories

Cathy Hamm, The College of Wooster

Abstract

The complete measure of urbanization's effects on individual's daily lives is just beginning to be recognized. This paper investigates the affect of urbanization on one particular aspect of an individual's attributes. The relationship examined is between urbanization and socioeconomic status (SES). Variables representing the effects of urbanization were empirically tested to determine their effect on an individual's income, educational and occupational levels. The investigation also includes the empirical evidence presented in previous studies. The data used for this study was tested by a multivariate regression analysis. The results indicate both direct and indirect affects of urbanization on SES. And the implications the result suggest are not only interesting themselves but are helpful in determining the areas needing further investigation aswell. Five different hypotheses were used to test the relationship. Because the theory that urbanization does have an effect on SES, the reality of urbanization's effect in applied and measurable terms.