Abstract
After disaster-related displacement, finding new employment is critical to displaced individuals’ ability to regain stability for themselves and their families. This paper considers displaced Katrina survivors’ ability to maintain or improve pre-Katrina employment status (full-time vs. part-time vs. unemployed) post-Katrina. Using data from the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Study, we construct a scale of employment change which offers a nuanced look at employment change. We focus specifically on the impact of long-term displacement and race on changes in survivors’ employment status. We find across our analyses that displacement has a negative effect on employment status. And we find that African-Americans suffered a larger loss of full-time employment status than did Whites. This study has critical implications for future disaster research and disaster policy aimed at helping survivors to restore their lives.