Minority workers in the Tenth District: rising presence, rising challenges

The population of the Tenth Federal Reserve District has become increasingly diverse in recent decades. Since 1970, the share of ethnic and racial minorities in the district has nearly doubled, reaching 25 percent of the area's population in 2005. Minority job situations and earnings have long been topics of national interest for economic researchers and public policymakers. Further, minority workers are a rapidly growing part of the district's labor force and thus a vital resource for district businesses. ; Wilkerson and Williams consider the jobs and earnings of Tenth District minority groups, both for today and over the next five to ten years. After detailing the growth, location, and size of minority groups, they examine the current pay and occupations of minority workers. Next, they explore the five-to-ten-year outlook for jobs held by minorities and compare it with projections for the future supply of minority workers in the district. Finally, they address implications of the findings for minority workers. ; The authors find that the district's three largest minority groups - Hispanics, blacks, and Native Americans - are much less concentrated in high-paying occupations than are non-Hispanic whites. High-paying jobs generally require higher skill and educational levels - advantages that these three minority groups often lack. Moreover, the five-to-ten-year outlook for jobs held by these groups is not as bright as the outlook for jobs held by non-Hispanic whites, when both expected quantity and quality of future job growth are taken into account. More education will be needed to boost both the long-term and short-term job prospects for minorities in the Tenth District.