African American Men’s Decline in Labor Market Status during the Great Recession

Abstract

This chapter is the anchor of this research and covers original quantitative analyses I have conducted on occupational shifts that occurred among African American men during the recession. The importance of a group’s occupational distribution lies in the distribution’s influence on the group’s average wages. Occupational distribution by race can therefore influence inter-group wage disparities. This chapter shows that while African American male representation in high-, mid- and low-wage jobs declined over the course of the recession, the opposite occurred for white non-Hispanic men; the latter group was able to maintain its occupational representation during the recession. Based on the quantitative evidence presented in this as well as the preceding chapter, my conclusion is that African American men were further and disparately marginalized in the workforce during the Great Recession.