Where People Work: The Economic Context of Reproduction

Abstract

As various studies have noted, African American women historically have worked outside the home; thus, occupationally related stressors and strains, as well as those arising from household work and community work, may influence their health status (Mullings, 1984; Krieger et al., 1994). African American women now constitute a slightly greater proportion of the African American workforce than men. Currently, on the national level, while approximately one-fifth of African American women in the labor force are in managerial and specialty professions, most are concentrated in service, technical, clerical, and laborer occupations. Twenty-eight percent are service workers; 12 percent hold jobs as operatives, fabricators, and laborers; and 39 percent hold jobs in technical, sales, and administrative support (Bennett, 1995). While only about 4 percent of African American women report themselves as self-employed (Devine, 1994), their increased participation in the informal sector has been widely discussed by social scientists (Sassen, 1991). Class stratification over the past 10 years has produced a concentration of African American women in low-wage, dead-end jobs and a growing middle stratum of managerial and professional workers.¹ The community description figures in the appendix describe employment and income characteristics of Central Harlem residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and other administrative sources of data.