One of the few interesting comments from the Biden/Trump debate on June 27th, was about immigrants taking “black Jobs.” Trump later repeated the comment during his interview with a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention. Trump is great a turning a complex topic into an emotional sound bite. Let’s just admit it, Trump can turn any grievance into a visceral sound bite that the media loves.
Let’s be clear, Trump’s appeal for Black votes is condescending, racist, and simplistic. He is Implying Blacks can only do certain jobs. Jobs, “Black Jobs,” they were born to do. Black jobs he knows and is familiar with.
Trump’s use of the term “Black Jobs” represents his simple understanding of the labor market as an “I win/you lose” labor market. And for many people, this is true. For Trump and his followers, everything can be “boiled” down to a simple slogan without considering the enormous shifts in the labor market because of globalization, corporate power, and poor policy choices by politicians.
But Trump has a real point. He is making an emotional appeal for votes based on something many of us can see and feel. Many Black people also believe Immigrants are doing better than Black Americans. And that immigrants get more help than they “deserve” from the government.
There are many reasons for slow Black economic progress in the labor market. The modern labor market is huge and complicated. However, most of the changes in the labor market are largely hidden until people lose jobs. Jobs are not the only problem with the labor market, there is a larger problem. The problem of future opportunities. Who gets the opportunity to build future generational wealth?
Almost all of these changes in the labor market are not from immigration. There are larger forces that are unseen and had a bigger impact than immigration. They take decades to develop, but a much larger impact than immigration. We want to highlight some policies that have a larger impact than immigration over the long-term. Here are the real policies that affect Black jobs and income: Lack of industrial policy that supports workers, corporate cost-cutting, off-shoring manufacturing, poor educational outcomes for Black children, automation and the internet, out-sourcing jobs, anti-union policies, lack of child-care, and immigration.
The difference is that almost all of those causes are unseen. Immigration is a day-to-day experience for all of us. And we like scapegoats to blame or problems on others rather than “look in the mirror.”
Trump may be right about immigration. But not much.
Trump’s remarks open a window to discuss our modern economy and how it may not always work for the benefit of Black People. Or White people. Or poor people. Trump is right that major changes to the labor market have hurt low-income workers especially those with a less than college education.
So, given, Trump’s remarks, we can finally discuss Black employment, Black occupations, Black opportunity and the real impact of immigration on Black workers. Let us not dismiss this moment with another post from Simone Biles or Michele Obama about Black Jobs.
Yes, there are “Black Jobs”
When we talk about Black employment, we are discussing three overlapping ideas: where Black workers have historically worked, the current perception of where Blacks work in the general population and media, and where they actually work in real life.
So, what are Black Jobs ?
In general, most people agree that “Black Jobs” are jobs where Black people work at a higher level than the general population. For example, occupations such as postal workers, corrections officers and educators have a higher than average employment of Black workers.
Historical View
Historically Black jobs were defined as jobs Blacks did for White people. Slavery had a large impact on this belief. Many White people believed that Blacks could only do slave-like work such as cooks, maids, porters, janitors, and other service jobs. Booker T Washington and WEB Dubois helped change this point of view. Later during the Jim Crow era jobs grew to include teachers and postal workers and a small professional class of doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers and government workers. But opportunities were limited.
Public perception and the media view of Black Jobs
The public’s perception of Black workers is affected by local interaction. If you work with a Black person, you have a better opinion of Black workers than someone who does not.
The media does not cover the labor market at all. It focuses on exciting stories that boost ratings. When it comes to Black workers, that means stories about exceptional black people. They show Black astronauts, airline pilots, newscasters, and sports figures who excel at their profession but the media tone is “exceptionalism.” The superstars are shown as rare unicorns and exceptions to the rule. They deify meritocracy, and imply, if you are not successful, it’s your fault. The mass of hard-working, grind-it-out Black workers are never shown.
But the public also sees hard working Black workers every day. And what we see is what we know. We see Black Workers at Costco working as cashiers, delivering Amazon packages, government workers, teachers, and on the phone doing customer service. These jobs shape the public’s view of what is a Black job. This is what the public sees.
The real definition of “Black Jobs” based on facts
However, the best definition of a Black job is: occupations with an over-representation of Black workers over a long period. There are plenty of examples: Food service workers, teachers, Security Officers, postal workers, warehouse and delivery(logistics) workers. But recently management, sales, government, education, and healthcare.
Why do Blacks work in certain fields? — “I know somebody” or “I got the hookup”
Blacks are clustered in certain fields because of historical and current discrimination, geography, education and group/network effects. The cumulative effect is to limit Black opportunity. So Black workers are pushed into many occupations familiar to us such as postal workers. “I know someone at the postal service and they said I should apply. “
But Black people are also present in many fields we don’t see like management, sales, teaching, and office work. Blacks work behind the scenes to fill many crucial roles.
If I can see it, I can be it
The labor market is split in two. There are low-income workers, and high-income workers or professionals. Professionals typically have a college degree and work in a highly skilled or technical field. Until recently, discrimination stopped Black workers from employment in these fields.
Many professional fields such as engineering, technology, and the professions are difficult for Blacks to advance into because of network effects and a poor educational system. The schools Blacks attend are relatively worse than suburban Whites. In addition, there are few Black job networks, mentors or role models to help.
Professional immigrants have done incredibly well and have “hidden” from public scrutiny while the nation focuses on illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border. Immigrants have filled the professional employment gap. Professional immigrants arrive with professional degrees and ambitions. While, the best talented and best-connected stay in their home countries, immigrants to the US are ambitious. “Opportunities are limited in my home country, so I will try the US.” I was an engineer in Nigeria, my friends were engineers, so I will be an engineer in the US and so will my kids.
Does immigration hurt native-born Black workers? Yes, low-skilled immigrants have hurt American workers.
Finally, we can talk about Donald Trump’s central point: that immigrants “steal” Black jobs. The answer is NO they do not steal jobs. Our economic system and immigration policies let them displace native workers. YES, they do displace some Black, White, and Hispanic workers, especially at the low education levels.
There is NO conspiracy to “replace” American workers with immigrants. There is no government plan for replacement. Instead, there are corporations and businesses, acting in their own self-interest, which shape the laws that affect immigration. These policies hurt American workers.
In many ways, low-income workers live in a zero-sum world that President Trump talks about in his rallies. Only one person can get that job. Only one person can drive that truck. But immigrants also grow the economy. They shop at Walmart where Black people work. They order from Amazon where Black people work. They go to school and the hospital, again, where Black people work.
Economists are mostly in favor of immigration
Economists agree, that immigration has had an impact on lower-skilled workers. Where they disagree, is how much. There is no consensus on the total impact of immigration, especially low-skilled immigration. In addition, other changes in the economy have had a larger impact on Black workers than immigration. For example, corporate cost-cutting, anti-union activities, and offshore manufacturing have had a much larger impact than immigration.
The problem is that the other forces are invisible, I can see people who don’t look like me on my way to Walmart to buy cheap Chinese-made goods. So the racist attack works.
Summary
Trump is Stereotyping to get cheap votes. Nothing new here. Name the issue.
However, the debate about “Black Jobs” is really a debate about how to create good quality jobs for high school-educated workers. Then add a global market in cheap manufactured goods and low-skilled immigration. Western democracies around the world are struggling with the immigration issue. They have chosen a path of more limited immigration, a strong social safety net, strong unions, low-cost educational systems, and worker training.
We should take this chance to step back and think about opportunities in the labor market for native-born Blacks who have done so much to improve this country and for legal immigrants.
Sources on Black Jobs
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (Bureau of Labor Statistics) – The most accurate resource for where Black people actually work in the labor market. They also have historical data back to 1995. Historical Data (BLS)
Racial representation in professional occupations (Economic Policy Institute) – Great
And anything with a Valerie Wilson by-line has got to be great.
Articles
Black Americans Respond To Trump’s Notion Of ‘Black Jobs’ (Forbes)
Trump’s debate references to ‘Black jobs’ and ‘Hispanic jobs’ stir Democratic anger (AP News) – AP always has the least biased, straight reporting of a story.
Chicago’s response to migrant influx stirs longstanding frustrations among Black residents (AP News)