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Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great Depression

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  • Sundstrom, William A.

Abstract

Throughout the Great Depression, the unemployment rates of blacks exceeded those of whites in urban areas of both North and South. Among men, this difference was largely due to racial differences in occupational status, whereas among women, unemployment rates were dramatically higher for blacks even within specific occupations. The occupational pattern of the unemployment gap suggests that labor market discrimination played a role, especially in unskilled service jobs.

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  • Sundstrom, William A., 1992. "Last Hired, First Fired? Unemployment and Urban Black Workers During the Great Depression," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 415-429, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:52:y:1992:i:02:p:415-429_01
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    Cited by:

    1. Kris Inwood & Chris Minns & Fraser Summerfield, 2016. "Reverse assimilation? Immigrants in the Canadian labour market during the Great Depression," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 299-321.
    2. Daniel B. Jones & Werner Troesken & Randall Walsh, 2012. "A Poll Tax by any Other Name: The Political Economy of Disenfranchisement," NBER Working Papers 18612, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Christopher L. Foote & Warren C. Whatley & Gavin Wright, 2003. "Arbitraging a Discriminatory Labor Market: Black Workers at the Ford Motor Company, 19181947," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(3), pages 493-532, July.
    4. Bellou, Andriana & Cardia, Emanuela, 2021. "The Great Depression and the rise of female employment: A new hypothesis," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. William A. Sundstrom, 1997. "Explaining the Racial Unemployment Gap: Race, Region, and the Employment Status of Men, 1940," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 460-477, April.
    6. Bastien Chabé-Ferret & Paula Eugenia Gobbi, 2018. "Economics Uncertainty and Fertility Cycles: The Case of the Post-WWII Baby Boom," Working Papers ECARES 2018-19, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Siddiqi, Arjumand & Jones, Marcella K. & Bruce, Donald J. & Erwin, Paul C., 2016. "Do racial inequities in infant mortality correspond to variations in societal conditions? A study of state-level income inequality in the U.S., 1992–2007," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 49-58.
    8. Neumann, Todd C. & Fishback, Price V. & Kantor, Shawn, 2010. "The Dynamics of Relief Spending and the Private Urban Labor Market During the New Deal," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 195-220, March.
    9. Robert A. Margo, 1993. "Employment and Unemployment in the 1930s," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 41-59, Spring.
    10. T. Aldrich Finegan & Robert A. Margo, 1993. "Added and Discouraged Workers in the Late 1930s: A Re-Examination," NBER Historical Working Papers 0045, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Sundstrom, William A., 2001. "Discouraging Times: The Labor Force Participation of Married Black Women, 1930-1940," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 123-146, January.
    12. Collins, William J., 2021. "The Great Migration of Black Americans from the US South: A guide and interpretation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Robert W. Fairlie & William A. Sundstrom, 1999. "The Emergence, Persistence, and Recent Widening of the Racial Unemployment Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 52(2), pages 252-270, January.

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