Thesis on "Age Discrimination Among Black Males or Percentage of Black Males Working in Human Resources"

Thesis 10 pages (3160 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Percentage of Black Males Working in Human Resources

Racism is a raging issue and its extent the workplace is worth exploring. The employment of Black men is of particular interest to this paper. They constitute only a small percentage of the national population. Nonetheless, they are a force and a part of the nation. They are realities who contribute or not to the national welfare and economy. They should, therefore, be made productive part of the nation's workforce. Because racism is inconsistent with this ideal, straightforward questions must asked. Are they as likely as white men to complain about work discrimination in connection with their color? Are they treated equally or unequally when applying for jobs? How do they compare in the matter of raises and promotions? This paper will attempt to answer these questions.

Literature Review

Coleman, Major C.; Darity, William a.; and Sharpe, Rhonda V. Sharpe. Are Reports of Discrimination Valid? American Journal of Economics and Sociology: American

Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc., 2008. Retrieved on March 2, 2009 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0254/is_2_67/ai_n27911457?tag=content;col1

The authors discuss the findings of a Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality that Black workers are far likelier to complain about discrimination at work than white workers. Those who do also show statistical evidence of wage discrimination. The study also found little evidence to support the moral hazard argument. This argument held that employers tend to be reluctant to hire Black workers to avoid the risk of groundless lawsuits. Black workers filed discrimination complaints far more than whites and evidence bears statistically discernible racial discrimination behind these complaints. This is not the same with whites. These complainants were also subjected to wage discrimination, which was not done to white workers. And the moral effect argument states that employers are disinclined to hire Blacks so as to avoid possible lawsuits filed by them. Employers intend to avoid the legal hazard of being sued for a violation. This study did not support the argument.

The Multi-City Study supplied the lack of appropriate data on the issue by collecting detailed employment and wage information and Black employees' perceptions of job discrimination. The surveys were conducted on 8,000 respondents living in Atlanta, Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles. Findings showed that Black workers - male and female - were 6 or 7 times likelier to complain of job discrimination on account of their race than whites. Black males were also 11 times likelier to complain of discrimination in raises and promotions than white males. Tabulations reflected that white men earn $16.69 per hour as compared with $14.27 if they were treated as Black men. White men do not suffer racial discrimination in terms of wages. Black men earn $1.89 less for their race. Only 12.5% of the Black male respondents who reported discrimination did not provide evidence of wage discrimination. The Study concluded that the feared moral hazard effect was only theoretical and not actual. Black workers are likelier to report experiences of both racial discrimination in the workplace and provide evidence of wage discrimination. The situation was not true for whites. The Study also concluded that the fears of improper lawsuits of racial discrimination were without basis. It recommended that employers address their discriminatory practices in the workplace rather than refrain from hiring Black workers.

Porter, Brenda. Black Males Locked Out of Jobs: White Ex-Cons More Likely to Find

Work than Black Counterparts, 2006. Black Enterprise: Earl G. Gravis Publishing Co., Inc., 2006. Retrieved on March 2, 2009 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_7_36/ai_n26245110?tag=content;col1

Porter connects the findings of a 2004 study conducted by Princeton University sociology professors and the hypothesis on employer discrimination and race in contemporary urban labor markets. Professors Bruce Western and Devah Pager conducted the study on 13 young male applicants in 1,470 private companies in New York City in February 2004. They found that Blacks with no criminal record were treated the same way as white males with criminal record in finding employment. Employers also refused employment to 57% of Black applicants but only to 35% of white applicants. Latinos had a higher acceptance rate than Blacks. Gerald D. Jaynes of the Black Enterprise Board of Economists was not surprised by the findings. He interpreted these to mean that employers in general would give a second chance of employment to whites who committed a "mistake." But they would not take the same risk with Blacks with a criminal record.

Levitan, Mark. A Crisis of Black Male Employment: Unemployment and Joblessness in New City. Community Service Society Annual Report. Community Service Society, 2004. Retrieved on March 2, 2009 at http://www.cssny.org/pubs/special/2004_02/labormarket.pdf

The author describes the recovery of New York City's economy since the terrorists' attack, but prosperity is not yet in sight. Unemployment is still a problem and it is high. He wonders if true economic growth would ease out the joblessness crisis confronting the City's Black men. The Community Service Society's annual report compares unemployment figures in 2000 and 2003. It found that the unemployment rate for 2003 was 8.5% but many groups felt it was higher. These groups consisted of teens at 28.7%; young adults at 13.1%; Blacks, 12.9%; Hispanics, 9.6%; those with less than a high school degree, 11.2%; and blue collar workers, 10.1%. Jobholding since the business cycle peak of 2000 has been declining for men more than for women at 5.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Among the men, the unemployment decline was sharpest for the young at 11.6%; Hispanics at 7.1%; and Blacks at 12.2%. In 2003, only half of New York's Black men were employed at 51.8%. In comparison, 57.1% of Black women and 75.7% of white men also in New York were employed in the same year.

Recession is generally associated with the 9/11 attacks but the labor market in New York City was already in trouble since December 2000. From 3,761,000 jobs existing 9 months before the attacks, the figure dropped by 81,700 by September 2001. The City lost 78,300 jobs from September to December 2001. The figure continued to decrease from 2002 to 2003 by another 93,700 jobs. It reached and remained at 3,528,000 from August to September 2003. The most affected groups were the Blacks, the Hispanics and younger men. Statistics said that 27-35% of New York men 16-24 years old were African-American and Hispanic, respectively. This suggested a crisis of Black employment.

This crisis was not unique at this time. During the 1989 -1992 recession, the decline in employment of Hispanics was at 12.9% decline as compared with the Blacks at 2.3%. During the 1992-2000 recovery and boom period, however, the employment of Hispanics went up by 14.4% while that for Blacks at only 3.2%. These levels were unchanged from the peak of economic expansion in 1989 till the 90s economic expansion. Then in 1989, Black employment fell to 16.6% below that of White males and 8.3% of Hispanic men. By 2003, the gap between Black and white men increased to 23.9% while the gap between Black and Hispanic men stretched to 13.9%.

The steep fall in employment or job holding among Black men has been customarily attributed to the cause behind their overall and ever-widening social disadvantage. Their situation can be compared with that of Hispanic men. The employment of Hispanic men in the manufacturing sector in the 1898 recession fell sharply with the collapse of the sector itself. But the service industries made up for that loss and employed Hispanic men later in the 90s. But Black men did not benefit as much as Hispanic men did in the service industries.

In his report, the author suggested three steps, which could make a difference in solving the stubborn and gargantuan issue. One was to renew the Temporary Extended Unemployment Program or TEUC, which the President and Congress failed to do. Another was to create transitional jobs. And the third was to open the door to opportunity.

The persistently high level of unemployment warranted the renewal of the TEUC. It would not only relieve the hard consequences of unemployment but also support consumer spending and boost economic growth in New York City. Under the second step, transitional jobs would make available publicly subsidized and temporary jobs to the unemployed. And under the third step of opening a door to opportunity, Opportunities could be major infrastructure projects to employ people without a college degree. Examples are new or expanded subway lines, sports stadiums, and rebuilding at the World Trade Center site. Because public resources would be needed, the people of New York would have the voice in their policy goals. These are opportunities for unemployed Blacks and Hispanics.

Johnson-Elie, Tannette. Study Shows How Deeply Black Men Face Discrimination in Hiring. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: JSOnline, 2003. Retrieved on March 7, 2009 from http://www.jobbankusa.com/News/Hiring/hiring100803a.html

Johnson-Elie discusses the findings of another study, which provides evidence of racial discrimination in hiring Black men. The study was conducted among job applicants in metro Milwaukee because of its size, racial demographics and industrial base. The researcher-sociologist was Devah Pager of the Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois between… READ MORE

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