Although labor market indicators paint a dismal picture of the status of African-American workers, they underestimate the extent to which they have been affected by recent trends. Official estimates do not include those not actively seeking work or those frustrated by the job market. (JOW)

The earnings gap between black men and white men widened from 1979-89. Black men were more likely to experience declines in regions where they were concentrated. White men's earnings rose relative to black men's in lower-paying industries. (SK)

Based on available statistics, it is obvious that most Blacks have not recovered from the effects of the 1974-75 recession. Further, many of their gains relative to the status of the majority White population that had been won in the previous decade have been seriously eroded in the 1970s. (Author/GC)

Data from the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation showed that 62% of differences in wages offered to black and white men and 67% of differences in observed wages were not due to productivity differences. Wage discrimination reduced the relative employment rate of black men from 89% to 82% of white men's rate. (SK)

Combining prison survey and Current Population Survey data significantly reduces estimated employment rates for African Americans, young workers, and high school dropouts. Employment among young black male high school dropouts declined between 1982-1996. Labor force data that do not include incarceration statistics significantly understate…

Deals with White, Black, and Hispanic married-couple families, highlighting their current work-income profiles and exploring some of the major differences. (JOW)

Computations using data from the Current Population Survey show that the separation rate of women is the same as or lower than that of men when wage rates are taken into account. For Blacks, the separation rate is lower than that for Whites, regardless of sex. (Author)

Black occupational status improved somewhat in the 1970s as proportionately more Blacks moved into white-collar jobs, although few penetrated the higher salaried professional and managerial positions. Black workers need to gain more access to the higher skilled, better paying jobs in the white-collar fields if their earnings are to increase. (JOW)

Decomposes variance in black and white male labor force participation rates across metropolitan areas into: local labor market effects, labor force structure effects, and effects from the covariation between the two. Data from the 1990 Public Use Micro Sample show difference by race and suggest that most variation results from workers with similar…

A strong increase in employment highlighted the nation's job situation in 1978. A record 59 percent of the working-age population were jobholders by the end of fourth quarter and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent. Women age 16 and over accounted for two-thirds of the growth in the civilian labor force. (BM)

The job displacement rate for blacks converged to that for whites from 1982 to 1993. Over the same period, the rate for workers in white-collar occupations, in which blacks were underrepresented, rose, and that of blue-collar workers, in which blacks were overrepresented, fell. (Author/JOW)

Occupational Changes in a Generation surveys of 1962 and 1973 were reanalyzed to discern patterns of intergenerational and intragenerational mobility of Black men. Support was found for Wilson's contention that class has superseded race as the main determinant of Black's occupational chances--particularly for men employed within the public sector.…

Demonstrates that the number of low income or "underclass" Black families has increased over the past decade, while the proportion of low income Black families in the general population has remained relatively unchanged. However, there does not seem to be a widening economic cleavage within the Black community itself. (Author/GC)

While the business and social climate for Blacks in Chicago has generally deteriorated, there has been an increase in the number of Black elected and appointed political officials. However, some Blacks are appointed to failing enterprises abandoned by White officials and are likely to be blamed for the failure. (Author/MJL)

Studies of the relationship between employment and crime indicate that the stigma of a criminal record and the lack of preprison employment experience affect Black and White ex-offenders differently. Findings suggest racial discrimination and institutional racism are intervening factors in the failure of crime prevention strategies, particularly…