A new report by the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education entitled “Job Quality and Black Workers: An Examination of the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York,” analyzed low-wage jobs among black workers, using data from the 2000 U.S. Census. Some results:
- Some 56.5 percent of black workers in the country earn low wages - $12.87 per hour or less - with the proportions of low-wage black workers ranging from 47.3 percent in Chicago to 53.8 percent in Los Angeles.
- The percentage of blacks working in low-wage jobs is 56.5 percent versus 43.9 percent of whites, 44.6 percent of Asians and 68.7 percent of Latinos.
- The amount of low-wage work among blacks cannot be attributed to part-time employment: 54 percent of all full-time black workers in the United States work for low wages.
- The retail sector, whose expansion is often promoted as a panacea for black unemployment, includes an especially high number of low-wage jobs for African Americans. Of all of the nation’s blacks working in retail, 73.3 percent earn low wages and among black retail employees working full-time, 69.4 percent receive low wages.
- Black workers are concentrated in industries that pay low wages, with three industry sectors - manufacturing; retail trade; and health care and social assistance - employing approximately 40 percent of all black workers. Retail trade and health care and social assistance include larger proportions of black low-wage workers than the national average for blacks.
- Almost one-half of black workers work in industries that face a reduced threat of being “offshored,” meaning it is likely that these jobs will stay in the United States rather than being sent abroad.
The State Of . . . the work place. In 2000, a third of black workers were employed in three main areas: retail/trade, health care, and hotels. The report recommends transforming these low wage jobs into higher quality jobs by, among other things, establishing a minimum wage, living wage, and industry wage laws; establishing community benefit agreements and local hiring requirements, and linking workforce and economic development programs. The report can be found here.
