I have found many various approaches to examining racial and ethnic differences
surrounding work. The research approaches come from a plethora of angles
so I've grouped the different studies together to let you decide which aspect
of race related work issues interest you. This piece discusses the racial
and ethnic differences of the following issues:
WORK ATTITUDES:
The first issue I will address is that of differing attitudes of racial
groups in the work force. An article in American Demographics, August 1992,
says that minorities are more likely than the general work force to be committed
to work. A Gallup poll found that 31% of blacks and other non-whites describe
themselves as workaholics, compared with only 22% of whites (1..Braus,
1992: 37). This could be because non-whites feel more of a need to work
harder or more hours, to earn more money, and to be upwardly mobile. Whites
overall are more likely to already be living comfortable middle class lives
and would rather have more free time than more income. The study also found
that minorities are also more likely to prefer job time to play time: 27%
of minorities compared with 17% of whites(1Braus,
1992: 37). I think this statistic could be considered racist saying that
non-whites prefer working, that they are the workers of our country, or
that there is something essential about them that makes them tend towards
work rather than free time where they could pursue activities of choice.
I believe what this statistic is really getting at is that at this juncture
non-whites surveyed choose to spend more time working to earn more money
than whites do who are satisfied already with their income and living conditions.
In another study about work attitudes by American Demographics, July 1995,
it was found that Hispanics are most positive about their jobs, Blacks are
least positive, and Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, and
whites fall somewhere in between.
This is probably because of the historical differences between these
ethnic groups in this country. Blacks, having historically the worst employment
records in the United States because of their start in slavery, have not
had the opportunity to excel in the job market as much as other racial and
ethnic groups may have. Hispanic immigrants would tend to be more positive
about their jobs because in comparison to the economic situations in the
Latin American countries any job in the United States is a positive improvement.
The biggest racial divide is about fairness in promotions and career advancement.
Three in four whites are satisfied along these lines, while only 37% of
Blacks agree, 59% of Hispanics, 62% of Native Americans, and 68% of Asians(10.Reinemer,
1995: 30). I think that this reflection of an unfair system of promotion
and career advancement in the United States shows that there are different
racial prejudices for different ethnic groups.
Another issue to consider is differing attitudes about receiving public
assistance based on racial lines. Overall attitudes about receiving public
assistance differ because of the disproportionate percentage of African
Americans receiving public assistance compared to white Americans. It is
currently more acceptable in the urban than rural African American community
to receive assistance.
RETURN TO WORK AFTER CHILDBIRTH:
The first issue I will deal with is the return to work of white, black,
and Mexican-origin women after the birth of their first child. In the past
(1960s and early 1970s) it was observed that white women did not return
to work as soon as black women mainly because they did not need to provide
such a big proportion of the family income. Mexican-origin women returned
to work even later for more cultural reasons of following traditional sex
roles. The study by Yoon and Waite, 1994, shows that now with the gap between
black and white women closing in the workplace, there is not much difference
in the return time to work after the birth of the first child. One interesting
finding is that wives' employment increases family income for black families
by 88%, compared with 38.6% for white families(11.Yoon
and Waite, 1994: 212). This study finds that one-fifth of their sample returned
to work the week immediately following delivery and that the same proportions
of black, white, and Mexican-origin women (almost 63%) returned to work
by the child's first birthday(11.Yoon and
Waite, 1994: 213). Controlling for economic, social, and demographic characteristics
this study found no racial differences in women's return to work. Results
also showed that urban residence had no significant effect on the return
to work of white and Mexican-origin mothers but did have a significant negative
effect for black women. Black women who lived in urban areas showed a probability
of return to work 18.0 percentage points lower than black women in rural
areas(11.Yoon and Waite, 1994: 215). Overall
this study found that education has a positive relationship with return
to work for both black and white women, but this effect is larger for the
former than for the latter; black women with higher other family income
return more quickly than black women with lower income, but other family
income makes no difference in white women's return to work; black women
who live in urban areas return to work following their first birth more
slowly than black women who live in rural areas(11.Yoon
and Waite, 1994: 216).
DIFFERENTIAL LIFE EXPECTANCY:
A study about differential life expectancy, socioeconomic status, and social
security benefits (2.Choi, 1989) found that
significant inequities in retirement benefits created by the differential
life expectancy, particularly by race, may be somewhat offset by disability
payments. This could be explained partially because minorities usually are
of low-income status and because low income earners work in physically demanding
jobs more often than do high income earners, they more often are in ill
health (2.Choi, 1989: 148). One thing that
shocked me was the difference in life expectancy along race and gender lines.
The biggest difference existed between high-income white females and low-income 
black males, a difference of 6.6 years of life (2.Choi,
1989: 149). The implications of this, that non-whites work harder and that
their hard work ends up killing them sooner than their white counterparts,
shows the sad and harsh consequences of racist employment differences in
the United States today, compounded by unequal access to healthcare resources.
WOMEN IN WORK:
In an article on the history of employment of African-American women 1880-1930
(5.Harley, 1990: 336). I learned how respected
it was for African-American women to be employed because they helped contribute
to their family income. While originally the family and community took pride
in black women working eventually they felt that it was perhaps better for
the women to stay at home. Some blacks, I guess after seeing the white example
of women with enough resources staying in the home felt, "The fact
that black mothers had jobs was a blatant example of a lack of racial progress
and family stability" (5.Harley, 1990:
341). There is no doubt that these sentiments were caused by the unfortunate
fact that with higher white-male income the white women didn't have to work
out of the home while many black women did to help make ends meet. At the
same time there was some evidence that the black community encouraged women
to give their careers priority over making plans to marry. An 1897 black
newspaper, The Washington Bee, advised young women to find a career rather
than enter into a "foolish marriage, through the lack of occupation" (5.Harley,
1990: 343). Even in 1940 we see an attitudinal difference between blacks
and whites in Mary Church Terrell's autobiography, A Colored Woman in a
White World. She wrote on page 235, "A very important difference between
white people and black people is that white people think that you are your
work... Now a black person... knows that what I am doing doesn't have anything
to do with what I want to do or what I do when I am doing for myself"
(5.quoted in Harley, 1990: 345). Attitudinal
differences between blacks and whites are still seen today with the issue
of women in the work force. There are still the economically privileged
white women that don't have to work because their white husbands earn enough
to well support the household while in many black families women still need
to work to survive off family income. I would also venture to say that there
is more pride in the African American women's families and communities for
appreciating them as workers than is found in the white communities.
CARE FOR FAMILIES:
One issue that relates to work is care for frail elderly parents by
blacks and whites. Findings in Lechner's study "revealed that both
racial groups had similar care giving demands and similar levels of personal,
social, work, mental, and physical strain" (7.Lechner,
1993: 93). Group comparisons of blacks and whites indicated that work interferences
(late arrivals, early departures, unscheduled days off, and excessive personal
telephoning) significantly predicted more fragile mental health for whites
and more fragile physical health for blacks" (7.Lechner,
1993: 93). This is another unfortunate racial difference that should be
studied more thoroughly.
One other issue about care giving is that of child care and young mothers.
One study (9.Parish, Hao, and Hogan, 1991:
203) investigates kin networks and support in the way of child care. For
both blacks and whites, kin access and support from kin diminish rapidly
as young mothers enter their mid-twenties. Having child care especially
provided by kin obviously has an effect on young mother's ability to work
to provide for their children. Whites may have more access to non-kin child
care than black mothers because of more economic resources making kin provided
child care more prominent in the African American community (see
child care for more info).
SENSE OF WORK COMMUNITY:
Another aspect of work and race issues that has been explored is the sense of community
in the work place. One study by (6.Lambert and
Hopkins, 1995: 151) found that African American workers, especially women,
have a difficult time experiencing a sense of community at work. This may
be partially due to the different types of work performed by African Americans and
whites. A high income professional occupation that favors well-educated persons (and hence, discriminates against minorities who have less access to education) may stress team building in offices of
employees, therefore creating a sense of community in the workplace. In contrast, low
income jobs more likely to be filled by African Americans or other minority
groups are more likely to be located in service sector or manufacturing jobs where the
primary relationship is either between worker and consumer or worker and
product rather than developing worker to worker relationships which might create a greater sense
of community.
Overall there are major differences in employment, attitudes about employment,
and consequences of employment along racial and ethnic lines in our country
today. This will not change until our country's racism both institutional
and individual is abolished and until all races and ethnicities have a true
opportunity to excel in the currently white run capitalist system of the
United States today.