| dc.description.abstract | The economic status, of the Black Americans has lagged far behind that of non-Black Americans in the last four centuries. The major reasons are manifested in(1) discrimination in employment practices by: employers, public and private employment
agencies, labor organizations, and apprenticeship agencies and (2) discrimination in distribution of factor inputs. To bring about economic equality the Presidents of the United States have issued various Executive Orders. Eight years ago the United States Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII of this Act is known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Title) and made it unlawful to dis criminate in .emp1oyment because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The objective of this study is to test the hypo thes is that the economic status of the "Black Americans has improved relative to that of non-Black Americans since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other Presidential Executive Orders of the same time.
To examine this question, an economic model was developed. In this model, employers are assumed to have a "taste for discrimination", which causes them to have two different market demand curves for Blacks and non-Blacks. In hiring Black workers, employers feel that they incur a cost in addition to the market wage. Therefore Black workers are paid lower wages than non-Black workers in order for employers to compensate their "psychic
cost". In this imperfect market Black workers are not perfect substitute for non-Black workers. The enactment of the Fair Employment Practices laws (FEP) was, presumably, designed to encourage em,ployers to regard Black workers as perfect substitutes for non-Black workers. Through causing employers "taste for discrimination" to disapper, it is expected that the demand curve for Black workers will shift to the right. The increase in demand would effect an increase in employment and wages for the Black Americans. On the other hand, negative effects could cause an increase in wage rate and an increase
in the unemployment rate. It is argued that the non-Black wage would remain the same, but, in the absence of eliminating the "taste for discrimination" the laws could result in an
increase in the unemployment rate of the non-Blacks. The quantitative analysis was made by use of the census data, in examining variables selected to measure economic status viz., income, unemployment rates, and occupation distribution. In order to isolate the effects of the FEP laws in these variables, other variables were included, such as growth rate of Gross. National Produce and a dummy variable to test the impact of the war. Three statistical techniques were employed to evaluate the general overall economic progress of Blacks and the impact of the FEP laws. The statistical techniques are: least square regression analysis, analysis of variance, arid information theory analysis
technique. The regression results of many coefficients were not statistically significant at the five percent level of significance. In one instance the FEP laws effect variable was significant at the ten percent level of significance, suggesting that there may exist a
relationship between that variable and unemployment rates. The statistical tests do not permit one to con clude that the FEP laws have had significant impacts on the improvement of the economic status of the Black Americans. However, finding an expected sign in the estimated coefficients for FEP law effect variable suggests that the FEP laws, if more fully implemented, might lead to a reduction in unemployment and an increase in wage rate for Black Americans as a result of a shift in the demand curve for
Black labor.
The analysis of variance, revealed race itself to be dominantly significant as the cause of economic inequality of the two races. The racial entropy index distribution, shows that the Blacks have made some progress in some occupations, and have moved to better paying jobs. The descriptive analysis of the charges filed over the four year fiscal period, indicate that over 50 percent of the charges were directed to employers and that the factor of
race was very frequently given as the basis of the discrimination. | en |
