Black workers’ incomes far less than whites’ in city, study says
A study released Monday found stark disparities in income between blacks and whites throughout Baltimore.
The region’s black workers are concentrated in low-wage industries and jobs and tend to earn less and have higher job turnover than their white counterparts, according to the report released by Associated Black Charities of Maryland.
“Baltimore doesn’t have to be a city where African-American household income is nearly half that of whites,” said Diane Bell-McKoy, the organization’s president and CEO, during a presentation of the findings at a panel discussion at the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Baltimore headquarters. “Weknowwecandobettereconomicallyfor our citizens, regardless of their race.”
Overall, blacks in Baltimore earned about half of what white workers earned — a median of $38,688 compared to $76,992.
The gap is narrower for the region, with black workers earning a median of $38,798 compared to $66,612 for white workers.
Racial wage disparities occur across industries and within nearly every industry, according to the analysis of racial differences in employment, job growth, earnings and turnover compiled by the University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute.
Some of the industries with strong African-American employment are poised for growth, the study found, but occupations within those industries with higher concentrations of blacks likely will experience slower growth.
That’s a key finding, said Clair Minson, workforce strategist for Associated Black Charities, because it shows that training programs should focus on particular jobs within industries that have high growth potential.
“If we’re not drilling down and looking at the occupations … we’re going to be missing the mark,” Minson said.
The leaders of job training initiatives should consider what occupations are growing, she said.
“What are the opportunities for the people that I’m serving to get in the door, not only get in the door, [but] advance, make family-sustaining wages and continue to actually advance,” Minson said.
Opportunities exist for minorities in the hospitality industry, with hotel general managers often starting in entry-level jobs, said Thomas Penny, president of Donohoe Hospitality Services. Penny, who is AfricanAmerican and whose company helps operate 11 business-class hotels, said he started as a dishwasher making $4.25 an hour.
Donohoe works with community col- leges and universities to connect students with jobs. The company embraces diversity, he said, with half of its hotels headed by African-Americans. But Penny, who spoke on the panel, said the report angered him.
“We should be further along,” he said. “Wemust get to a place where we’re further along.”
The income disparities persist despite the fact that employment for AfricanAmericans has grown much faster since the recession than total employment and white employment across nearly all industries.
Between 2009 and 2016, black employment rose 19 percent in the Baltimore region, compared with 4 percent for whites and 10 percent overall.
Associated Black Charities said it commissioned the study to better understand racial patterns of employment as a first step towardremoving“systemic andinstitutional racialized barriers that continue to keep people of color locked out of opportunities.”
It said the analysis sought to answer the question: “Is African-American employment concentrated in lower-paying or higher-turnover sectors of the city and regional economy?”
Four industries with high numbers or concentrations of African-American employment are retail trade; transportation and warehousing; health care and social assistance; and administrative and support and waste management services, all areas in which wages tend to be lower, the study found.
Well over half — 63 percent — of all African-American workers in Baltimore are employed in those four sectors. In the metro area, 58 percent of employed African-Americans work in them.
By contrast, African-American employment lags well behind white employment in