Publish date: March 22, 2017
A new report, Ready to Work, Uprooting Injustice: Black Workers in Los Angeles County, finds that widening inequality, rising housing costs, and a lack of economic opportunities has led to a Black Jobs Crisis in need of urgent and comprehensive solutions for Los Angeles.
While the Black community was once a thriving part of L.A.’s landscape and remains integral to the county’s cultural and economic life, it has long been in critical decline. Manufacturing industries that once employed a large share of Black workers moved offshore, depleting the number of stable and available union jobs. The jobs that remained declined in quality, and as Black unemployment increased, these communities-especially their men-were increasingly criminalized and incarcerated. Despite the enactment of anti-discrimination laws, racist hiring practices demonstrably continue to limit Black employment. As a result of a lack of economic opportunities, widening inequality, and rising housing costs, the Black community in Los Angeles is experiencing a jobs crisis.
Among other findings, the study finds:
- Since the 1980s, the Black population in Los Angeles has declined by over 100,000 residents from 13% to 8% while the Inland Empire has gained over 250,000 Black residents
- Black workers with a high school or less education experience unemployment at almost double the rate as white workers at the same education level.
- Black workers are underrepresented in professional jobs and have lower rates in manager and supervisory positions.
- Whether working full or part time, Black workers earn only three-quarters of what white workers earn. For Black women, the wage gap is even more severe.
- Black workers experience a myriad of negative health outcomes due to racial discrimination in employment
The report is a call to action to provide real access to family-sustaining employment opportunities with livable wages, an opportunity for upward mobility and fair and safe workplace practices that are essential to develop an adequate and dignified standard of living for Black workers. Among other solutions, report authors recommend the unionization of Black workers, an expansion of hiring benchmarks that include underrepresented workers, and an institutionalization of partnerships with credible community organizations to implement targeted outreach, recruitment, and retention programs.
The study was based extensive literature review, an analysis of government data, and the collection of worker’s stories and case studies. It was co-produced with UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).
Los Angeles Times- Black workers in Los Angeles face a ‘jobs crisis,’ UCLA report says
Patch North Hollywood- Black Community Faces Job Shortages Crisis in Los Angeles, Study Finds
Fox 11 Morning News- UCLA study reveals Black jobs crisis
Fortune- Losing The Black Middle Class