Examining the Differential Impact of Recessions and Recovery across Race and Gender for Working- versus Professional-Class Workers

DOI10.1177/00027162211027926
AuthorOfronama Biu,Darrick Hamilton,Christopher Famighetti
Published date01 May 2021
Date01 May 2021
Subject MatterPopulation Outcomes
158 ANNALS, AAPSS, 695, May 2021
DOI: 10.1177/00027162211027926
Examining the
Differential
Impact of
Recessions and
Recovery across
Race and
Gender for
Working- versus
Professional-
Class Workers
By
OFRONAMA BIU,
CHRISTOPHER
FAMIGHETTI,
and
DARRICK HAMILTON
1027926ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYTHE DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT OF RECESSIONS AND RECOVERY
research-article2021
We investigate how wages and occupation sorting vary
by race, gender, and class during recessions. We per-
formed repeated Kitagawa-Blinder-Oaxaca decomposi-
tions of the Black-White wage gap from 1988 to 2020.
Black professional-class workers’ wages are more
unstable and take a more substantial hit during reces-
sions. Black workers see a lower return to their labor
market characteristics during recessions, and this is
pronounced for the professional class. Using an occu-
pational crowding methodology, we find that Black
women are overrepresented in essential work and roles
with high physical proximity to others and receive the
lowest wages. White men are crowded out of riskier
work but, within these categories, dominate higher-
paying roles. Black workers earn less in professional
riskier work than in working-class roles, while the
reverse is true for White workers. We find that class
status does not protect Black workers to the same
extent as White workers, especially during recessions.
Keywords: race; gender; recession; wages; occupa-
tional segregation
Black workers have always faced discrimina-
tion in the labor market. Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) records show that Black work-
ers’ unemployment rates have traditionally
been almost twice those of their White coun-
terparts.1 Black workers also face larger job
losses during recessions.
Differences in educational attainment do
not fully account for these disparities—for
instance, the January 2021 unemployment rate
Ofronama Biu is a research affiliate with the Institute
on Race and Political Economy at The New School.
Christopher Famighetti is a PhD candidate in public
and urban policy at The New School.
Darrick Hamilton is a university professor, the Henry
Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and
the founding director of the Institute on Race and
Political Economy at The New School.
Correspondence: ofronama@newschool.edu

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