|
Commissioner Statements
75
Incidents of underemployment are also highest among high school dropouts and graduates
with no post-secondary schooling, affecting blacks and Hispanics most heavily.
120
Finally,
unemployment has persisted for longer stretches during the latest recession—a mean of 29
weeks at the end of 2009—with a majority of the unemployed leaving the labor market
permanently.
121
Again, workers with the least educational attainment, a disproportionate
share of whom are black males, suffered most.
Indeed, the labor market position of low-skill workers has been steadily eroding over the past
few decades.
122
For example, the period between 1980 and 2000 saw a dramatic increase in
the wage gap between high school dropouts and more educated workers.
123
With respect to
the economic prospects of black low-skill workers specifically, one panelist testified that the
employment rate of black high school dropouts fell by 30 percentage points over a slightly
longer period—between 1960 to 2000 (from 72 percent to 42 percent).
124
Male high school
graduates fared little better, and at both educational levels the situation was dire for white
males but markedly worse for blacks.
125
Changing labor market conditions, including a steady reduction in overall low-skill jobs in
the United States, overseas competition from globalization and increased modernization of
industry have all had an impact on the job prospects of low-skill workers. These
developments also coincided with a dramatic rise in the number of immigrants—legal and
native workers who most directly compete with immigrants. Consequently, the average wage of
the native workers who remain in the labor force is increased by sample selection effects.
Hannes Johannsson and Steven Shulman,
Immigration and the Employment ofAfrican American Workers
,
D
EBATING
I
MMIGRATION
79, 78 (Carol M. Swain, ed., 2007).
120
A
NDREW
S
UM ET AL
., L
ABOR
U
NDERUTILIZATION
P
ROBLEMS OF
U.S. W
ORKERS
A
CROSS
H
OUSEHOLD
I
NCOME
G
ROUPS AT THE
E
ND OF THE
G
REAT
R
ECESSION
: A T
RULY
G
REAT
D
EPRESSION
A
MONG THE
N
ATION
‘
S
L
OW
I
NCOME
W
ORKERS
A
MIDST
F
ULL
E
MPLOYMENT
A
MONG THE
M
OST
A
FFLUENT
3, n.4 (Feb. 2010),
available at
http://www.clms.neu.edu/publication/documents/Labor_Underutilization_Problems_of_U.pdf
(Report Prepared for the C.S. Mott Foundation). The authors note that ―underemployment contributes in an
important way to the high and rising degree of income inequality in the United Sates and to growing poverty in
the recession.‖
Id.
at 4.
121
Id.
at 7.
122
Several of the briefing panelists acknowledged, and the Commission found, that the average worker with a
high school degree or less earns less today, adjusted for inflation, than someone with a similar education earned
thirty-five years ago. Impact of Illegal Immigration Br. Tr. 49 (Camarota Statement); Impact of Illegal
Immigration Br. Tr. 25 (Hanson Statement); Impact of Illegal Immigration Br. Tr. 29-30 (Jaynes Statement).
Dr. Briggs testified that the low-skilled labor market is most vulnerable to economic hardship, which has been
borne out by recent events. Impact of Illegal Immigration Br. Tr. 26.
123
B
ORJAS
,
supra
note 4, at 63.
124
Impact of Illegal Immigration Br. Tr. 25 (Hanson Testimony),
See also
, U.S. C
OMMISSION ON
C
IVIL
R
IGHTS
, I
MPACT OF
I
LLEGAL
I
MMIGRATION ON THE
W
AGES AND
E
MPLOYMENT
O
PPORTUNITIES OF
B
LACK
W
ORKERS
B
RIEFING
R
EPORT
29-30 (Jaynes Submitted Testimony).
125
I
MPACT OF
I
LLEGAL
I
MMIGRATION
B
R
. R
EP
. 30 (Jaynes Submitted Testimony) (―Thus, although in 1970,
black high school graduates and college graduates ages 25-34 had similar employment rates (90 percent versus
90.4 percent), by 1985 high school graduates had an employment rate 13 percentage point s lower (66.3 percent
versus 79.6 percent). The employment rate of same age black high school dropouts during 1985 was 57.2
percent, more than 20 points lower than the college graduates.‖).
Id.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: | 
