III. OCCUPATIONAL ADVANCES

During the first half of the twentieth century, blacks abandoned the fields of the agrarian South and found employment in factories in the industrializing North and Midwest. As the discussion in this sections shows, over the last 40 years, jobs have moved from factory floors to retail outlets and office suites. In 2010, 29% of employed blacks were employed in management, professional, or related occupations. An additional 25% were employed in sales or office occupations. Another 25% were employed in service occupations (such as food and beverage preparation, lodging, cosmetology, recreation, protection, personal services, etc.), and these occupations required modest educational attainment levels and afforded a moderate income.

We divided black workers into white- and blue-collar categories based on the Standard Occupational Classification System used to organize workers into occupational categories. White-collar occupations are defined as those who administer, supervise, or perform work that come in part under these groups and usually include managerial, professional, technical, sales, clerical, and other administrative support positions. White-collar occupations are knowledge based jobs involving little manual labor. Approximately half of the black population is now employed in white collar jobs. In 1972, only 34.8% of black workers were employed in white-collar occupations as shown in Graph 2. By 2006, the proportion of blacks employed in white-collar positions had increased to 49.5%. This was a 14.7% increase over the 34-year period. During the decade of the 1970s, the proportion of blacks in white-collar positions only grew by 3.8%. During the 1980s, the proportion of blacks employed in white-collar positions grew by 7.3%. During the 1990s, it grew by 5.9%, but it declined by 2.3% from 2000 to 2006.

Graph 2

Changes in Occupational Classifications: 1972-2006

Source: James A. Davis, Tom W. Smith, & Peter V. Marsden, General Social Surveys, 1972-2006, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut/Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (Apr. 12, 2009).

During the 1970s, the proportion of blacks employed in blue-collar occupations declined by 5%, and it further declined by 7.3 percentage points in the 1980s. The largest decline in the proportion of blacks employed in blue-collar positions took place in the mid-to-late 1980s. Between 1982 and 1990, the proportion of blacks employed in blue-collar occupations decreased from 63.1% to 54.1% (or 9 percentage points). During the 1990s, it declined by 8 percentage points, however the decades of the 2000s witnessed a 3% increase in the number of blacks employed in blue-collar occupations. Since 2000, the proportion of blacks employed in blue-collar and white-collar positions has been approximately fifty/fifty.

Changes in African American occupational characteristics can be seen from another perspective when white-collar classifications are divided into upper and lower categories. In 1972, 34.8% of all employed blacks were in white collar occupations. By 2006, the figure had risen to 49.5%. In 1972, 21.8 % of all employed blacks worked in upper white-collar occupations with 13% in lower-white collar occupations as shown in Graph 2. In 2006, approximately 26% of all black, white-collar workers were employed in upper white-collar occupations. The proportion of blacks employed in lower, white-collar occupations increased since 1972 from 13% to 23.5 in 2006. The proportion of blacks in upper- and lower-white-collar occupations has declined since 2000. The proportion of African Americans in lower-white-collar occupations declined from a high of 28.2% in 2002 to 23.5% in 2006. The proportion of blacks in upper-white-collar occupations declined from a high of 29.4% in 2000 to 26% in 2006.

Although blacks have made substantial advances in occupational classifications, they still lag behind whites in proportion to their population employed in white-collar occupations. In 1972, the difference in the proportion of blacks and whites employed in white-collar occupations was 22.5%. By 2006, the difference was down to 12.9%. The proportion of whites employed in white-collar occupations increased slightly from 57.3% in 1972 to 62.4% in 2006. These significant changes have contributed to a rise in the size of the black middle-class. However, much of the change in blacks' occupational classifications can be attributed to the change in the nature of work since the 1970s. Agricultural and many of the lower-blue collar and manufacturing jobs have declined, and many blacks have been left unemployed, underemployed, or employed in lower level white-collar positions.