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Introduction
For much of the postwar period, a higher share
of African-American workers have been in unions than workers from
other racial and ethnic backgrounds. As union representation and
union coverage have declined for the country as a whole, unionization
rates for African-Americans have fallen more quickly than for
the rest of the workforce. Black workers are still about 30 percent
more likely than the rest of the workforce to be in a union today,
but as recently as the mid-1980s, black workers were almost 50
percent more likely to be in a union or covered by a union at
their workplace. Part of the reason for the decline in unionization
rates among African-Americans is undoubtedly related to the decline
of U.S. manufacturing. For example, since the 1960s, African-Americans
were more likely to work in the heavily unionized automotive sector
than white or Latino workers. As these sectors have declined in
relative importance, unionization rates for blacks have also dropped.
The overall decline in manufacturing, however, is only part of
the problem. First, since the early 1990s, the share of black
workers in manufacturing has been falling more rapidly than the
manufacturing share for the workforce as a whole. From the end
of the 1970s through the early 1990s, African-Americans were just
as likely as workers from other racial and ethnic groups to have
manufacturing jobs. Since the early 1990s, however, black workers
have lost considerable ground in manufacturing.
By 2006, blacks were about 15 percent less likely
than other workers to have a job in manufacturing. Second, even
within manufacturing, unionization rates have been on the decline,
to the point where manufacturing workers now are no more likely
to be in a union than workers in the rest of the economy (see
Schmitt and Zipperer, 2007a). Meanwhile, over the last 25 years,
unionization rates have held steady in the public sector, which
suggests that employer opposition to unions, not simply economic
restructuring, lies behind the decline in overall unionization
rates (see Schmitt and Zipperer, 2007b).
Findings
Our analysis of data from the Current Population
Survey, the government's most important regular source of data
on the labor market, also finds:
- Between 1983 and 2006, the share of African-American
workers who were either members of a union or represented by
a union at their place of employment fell substantially, from
31.7 percent of all black workers in 1983 to 16.0 percent in
2006. In 2006, African-Americans were still more likely to be
in a union (16.0 percent) than whites (13.3) and Hispanics (10.7
percent). Nevertheless, the decline in union membership for
black workers between 1983 and 2006 was sharper for blacks (down
15.7 percentage points) than it was for whites (down 8.9 percentage
points) or Hispanics (down 13.5 percentage points). (See Table
1.)
- The share of African-Americans working in manufacturing
declined from 23.9 percent in 1979 to 10.1 percent in 2006.
Whites saw slightly smaller declines (from 23.5 percent to 11.9
percent), while Hispanics experienced a bigger drop (from 30.2
percent to 12.6 percent). (See Table
2.)
- Between 1979 and 2006, the share of workers
in auto manufacturing dropped for blacks, whites, and Hispanics.
Blacks suffered the biggest decline, a 0.8 percentage-point
decline, from 2.1 percentage points in 1979 to 1.3 percentage
points in 2006, compared to a 0.3 percentage point drop for
whites and Hispanics. (See Table
3.)
- Throughout the entire 1983-2006 period, black
workers have made up 13-15 percent of all union workers. Over
the same period, the share of whites in the total union workforce
fell from 78.1 percent to 69.2 percent, while the share of Hispanics
rose from 5.8 percent to 11.5 percent of all union workers.
(See Table
4.)
- Throughout the entire period from 1979 to 2006,
the share of African-American workers in the total manufacturing
workforce hovered around 10 percent. Meanwhile, white workers
fell from 82.7 percent of all manufacturing workers in 1979
to 69.9 percent in 2006. Hispanics (and other workers) significantly
increased their representation in the manufacturing workforce
over the same period (up from 6.0 percent of manufacturing jobs
in 1979 to 14.5 percent in 2006, for Hispanics). (See Table
5.)
- In 2006, blacks made up 14.1 percent of the
auto manufacturing workforce; whites were 73.3 percent; Hispanics,
7.6 percent. Between 1979 and 2006, the share of blacks and
whites in the total auto manufacturing workforce both fell.
The share of Hispanic and other workers, meanwhile, increased,
although remained at relatively low levels. (See Table
6.)
- Interpreting the preceding changes in the distribution
of African-American employment and unionization rates can be
complicated since the share of African-Americans and other racial
and ethnic groups in the total workforce has changed over time.
Tables 8, 9, and 10 show the "relative representation"
of whites, blacks, and Hispanics in the total union workforce
(Table
8), the total manufacturing workforce (Table
9), and the auto manufacturing workforce (Table
10). The simplest way to explain the calculation is with
an example. To calculate the relative representation of African-Americans
in the share of all union workers, we take the ratio of the
share of African-Americans in all union workers (14.0 percent
in 2006, in Table
4) to the share of African-Americans in the total workforce
(10.8 percent in 2006, in Table
7). The resulting ratio is 1.30, which is greater than 1,
indicating that African-Americans are "over-represented"
among union workers since there is a larger share of African-Americans
in unions than there is in the workforce as a whole. In the
same year, Hispanics made up 11.5 percent of union workers,
but 13.6 percent of the total workforce, resulting in a relative
representation of 0.85, which is less than 1, indicating that
Hispanics are "under-represented" among union workers.
If a group has the same share of workers in unions as they do
in the total workforce, then the ratio for relative representation
would equal one (which is close to the rate for whites in 2006,
0.99).
- In 2006, African-American workers were "over-represented"
in unions (Table
8) and in auto manufacturing (Table
10), but are actually "under-represented" in manufacturing
as a whole. (See Table
9.)
- The relative representation of African-Americans
has been slowly declining in unions (Table 8), manufacturing
(from the mid-1990s, Table 9), and auto manufacturing (Table
10). From the mid-1990s on, black workers have actually been
under-represented in manufacturing, relative to the rest of
the economy (Table
9). Meanwhile, white workers have held their ground in manufacturing
(Table
9), and have actually increased their relative representation
in unions (Table
8) and auto manufacturing. (See Table
10.)
John Schmitt is a senior economist and Ben
Zipperer is a research assistant at the Center
for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Click
here for a PDF version of the complete report
References
Center for Economic and Policy Research. Uniform
Extracts of the Current Population Survey
Outgoing Rotation Group. 2007.
Schmitt, John and Ben Zipperer. 2007a. "Union
Rates Fall in 2006, Severe Drop in Manufacturing," Washington,
D.C.: Center for Economic and Policy Research Union Byte (January).
Schmitt, John and Ben Zipperer. 2007b. "Dropping
the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns,"
Washington, D.C.: Center for Economic and Policy Research Briefing
Paper (January).
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