Abstract
The impact of the current recession on the labor market situation of African-Americans highlights their longer-run plight. While there have been signs of improvement, especially during the 1960s, black per capita earnings have fallen despite improvements in their relative wages and occupational standing. Public debate over the recent Civil Rights Bill, the nomination of Justice Clarence Thomas, and the Supreme Court’s Croson decision, has raised again the issue of using race-conscious policies to address past and present discrimination. This article reports on a study of Birmingham, Alabama as a case study. It suggests that a combination of race-neutral and race-conscious approaches may be needed to address the problems blacks continue to face in the United States economy.
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Notes
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Augustus J. Jones, Jr., and Clyde Brown, “State Responses toRichmond v. Croson: A Survey of Equal Employment Opportunity Officers,”The National Political Science Review, Volume 2 (1990), pp. 40–61.
The following discussion draws heavily upon an analysis conducted for the State of Maryland; See Coopers and Lybrand,Minority Business Utilization Study: Report to the State of Maryland, Department of Transportation (DOT), Contract DOT-OTS-90-001, (Washington, D.C., 1990).
Ibid.
Charles L. Betsey,Birmingham’s Changing Economy: Opportunities for Disadvantaged Businesses, (Birmingham: City of Birmingham, Office of Economic Development, December 1991).
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Unpublished data provided by Office of Economic Development, City of Birmingham.
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Additional information
This article was adapted from the Presidential Address to the National Economic Association, Allied Social Sciences Associations Meetings, January 3, 1992, New Orleans, LA.
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Betsey, C.L. NEA Presidential Address: The role of race-conscious policies in addressing past and present discrimination. The Review of Black Political Economy 21, 5–35 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02701734
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02701734