Page 22 - National UF Spring 2017

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Blacks and lower income workers --many
women -- working harder than ever

Economic Policy Institute reports -- Low-wage African American workers have increased
annual work hours most since 1979
Over the last several decades, black workers have been offering more to the economy and

the labor market to incredibly disappointing resu4lts1 in pay and unemployment.

Some have argued that the disparity in wages between blacks and white is the result of white

56 workers working longer and harder than black workers. They blame black workers for racial

wage gaps, saying that they should do anything from getting more education to simply
working harder.
Such explanations minimize the role of racial discrimination on labor market outcomes, while
perpetuating racial bias and stereotypes of black workers as unmotivated and lazy.
And the data show they are simply false: hours and weeks worked have increased for both
races, with a larger increase for black workers over the last several decades. The increase in
annual hours is particularly striking for workers in the bottom 40 percent of the wage
distribution, where it has been driven almost entirely by women.

Fhaovr eth-iencfurellarseepdo-rat,ngnouatol-whottrpk:-//hwowurws.-empoi.sotr-gs/ibnlcoeg-6/1lo39w79-w/ age-african-american-workers-