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Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry.
Black women are overrepresented in what’s known as “vulnerable work,” according to a new report by researchers with the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.
Vulnerable work refers to employment where workers are at greater risk of injury or exploitation, especially in temporary, part-time or casual work. These jobs are more apt to lack benefits, job security and legal protections, the study says.
Black women make up nearly 7% of the U.S. labor force but are crowded into 60% of part-time work, for example. Among occupations with the most part-time workers, Black women are crowded into 60% of those jobs while white men hold only 15%, said Ofronama Biu, one of the study’s authors. Some examples of these jobs are office clerks, dental assistants, teaching assistants and tax preparers, she said.
Black women in California earned 58 cents for every dollar a white man earned in 2021, according to gender pay data California began collecting after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pay disclosure law in 2020. The data does not take into account such factors relevant to pay as hours worked, type of occupation, job tenure, education levels or work experience.
The Urban Institute’s study does take into account educational attainment. It concludes Black women are disproportionately crowded into roles with less security, predictability, and economic remuneration — even when they have equal levels of education as other demographic groups.
The debate over pay gaps has become political, with some arguing that women’s own choices are why they often are paid less than men.
The study’s researchers compared hundreds of jobs, from teachers to firefighters to health care professionals, and ranked their various working conditions. Black women are underrepresented in higher-paying occupations, in contrast to white men, white women and Black men.
However Black women also receive lower wages than others in the same roles, the researchers found.
The study also looks at other aspects of compensation and wellbeing, such as benefits and job security. Black women tended to be underrepresented in jobs with employer-sponsored health insurance as compared with white men, and Black women were crowded into jobs from temporary agencies, which often offer fewer benefits than other work.
“I had an interest in looking at how Black women fare in the labor market aside from wages,” said Biu. “I wanted to look at other things that really impact well-being, like benefits and the number of hours you work.”
