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Title: The Impact of the Great Recession and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on the Occupational Segregation of Black Men

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: Existing research on occupational segregation measures the degree of under- and overrepresentation of a group in an occupation given that group’s expected level of representation; the occupational crowding hypothesis posits that the expected level of representation is based on the share of the group with the educational attainment level possessed by the majority of the occupation’s workers (Bergmann 1971). Black men are overrepresented in low-wage occupations, and underrepresented in high-wage occupations, even after controlling for education (Bergmann 1971; Gibson, Darity, and Myers 1998; Hamilton, Austin and Darity 2011). The occupational crowding hypothesis indicates that the crowding of black workers into low-wage occupations is due to: (1) employers’ desire not to associate with blacks; (2) employers’ perception that black workers are less productive; (3) employers’ fear of reprisal from white customers or employees. 1 Since occupational crowding research typically ignores the effect of business cycles on occupational sorting, this research examines whether the Great Recession exacerbated the occupational crowding of black men in the U.S. It also analyzes whether the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) mitigated any reduction in black male representation in non-construction occupations impacted by ARRA contract funding; the most frequently cited non-construction jobs that were created/retained because of ARRA contract spending were in the engineering and architecture occupations.2 My results show that the Great Recession adversely impacted the representation of black men not just in high-wage occupations, but mid-wage occupations as well. However, black men were not further crowded into low-wage occupations, which suggests that they were pushed out of the labor market. In addition, ARRA contract spending did not completely mitigate the recession’s negative impact on black male representation in engineering and architecture. My results are not inconsistent with Wicks-Lim’s (2011) findings regarding ARRA’s effect on occupational sorting. Since crowding occurs even after controlling for education, policy remedies should not center around increasing educational attainment, with the exception of the increased risk for incarceration associated with the lack of a high school diploma (Western 2002), and the possible role of black male incarceration rates in statistical discrimination. Policy prescriptions should instead focus on reducing or eliminating actions on the part of employers which lead to discriminatory labor market outcomes.

Url: https://search.proquest.com/docview/1512409428/abstract/C6DF2E97B00E4D67PQ/1?accountid=14586

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Authors: Holder, Michelle

Institution: The New School

Department: Economics

Advisor: Ghilarducci, Teresa

Degree: Ph.D.

Publisher Location: New York

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity

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