African Americans Disproportionately Hit By Decline in U.S. Manufacturing
Thursday, February 28, 2008
African-American workers have been particularly hard hit by the
decline in U.S. manufacturing, according to a study by the Center for Economic
and Policy Research (CEPR). In 1979, almost one-in-four black workers in
the United States had a manufacturing job. Today, fewer than one-in-ten black
workers are in manufacturing. The report, "The Decline in African-American
Representation in Unions and Manufacturing, 1979-2007,"
[http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/unions_aa_2008_02.pdf] by economist
John Schmitt and senior research associate Ben Zipperer, details the
simultaneous sharp decline in both black employment in manufacturing and the
unionization rates of black workers. "Manufacturing jobs, particularly unionized
jobs in the auto industry, were an important part of what built the black middle
class after World War II," said John Schmitt, a co-author of the
report.
Today, only 15.7 percent of all black workers are union
members or covered by a union contract at their workplace. Twenty-five years
ago, that share was 31.7 percent. Part of the reason for the decline in
unionization among African Americans is the decline in U.S. manufacturing. But
even within manufacturing, unionization rates have been falling. On average,
manufacturing workers are now no more likely to be in a union than workers in
the rest of the economy.
The study, which analyzed data from the
Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, found that the share of African
Americans in manufacturing jobs fell from 23.9 percent in 1979 to 9.8 percent
last year. From 1983 to 2007, unionization rates among African Americans dropped
from 31.7 to 15.7 percent. Unionization rates also dropped among whites (from
22.2 to 13.5 percent) and Hispanics (24.2 to 10.8 percent) during the same
period, but the declines were not as steep as those for African Americans.
The Center for Economic and Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan think tank established to promote
democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect
people's lives. CEPR's Advisory Board of Economists includes Nobel Laureate
economists Robert Solow and Joseph Stiglitz; Richard Freeman, Professor of
Economics at Harvard University; and Eileen Appelbaum, Professor and Director of
the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University.