Business Activity and Racial Differences in Unemployment in the United States

Abstract

Advocates of minority groups often claim that the corporate management lays off minority workers first at the onset of recessions and hires them last once the recovery begins. Assertions of this sort are rooted in the belief that the labour market remains inherently discriminatory in spite of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action laws. Often times the popular media reinforces such assertions. An article in The Wall Street Journal claimed that during the U.S. recession of 1990–91 only blacks suffered a net employment loss (Sharpe, 1993), whereas another report by a Hispanic organisation contended that Hispanics were one of the few minority groups who did not recover from the last recession.

Citation

Brar, J.S. and Jamal, A.M.M. (1996), "Business Activity and Racial Differences in Unemployment in the United States", Management Research News, Vol. 19 No. 10, pp. 35-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb028498