California’s Troubled Economy No Fault of Affirmative Action

The prolonged economic recession in California has caused many to question the validity of affirmative action programs designed to increase minority participation in the work force. Opponents maintain that minorities have gained an unfair advantage in the workplace relative to whites in general and white males in particular due to affirmative action. Only through a “color blind” society, they argue, will our current economic woes begin to be addressed.

Unfortunately, as with the successful Proposition 13 anti-tax movement of the ‘70s, people with good intentions do not always understand the nature of the problem. Their solutions, therefore, can have disastrous consequences that take generations to undo.

The real question is how best to address the pressing economic issues that face Californians of all races. Eliminating mechanisms designed to reduce inequities is a step backward, not forward. Recognizing that the inequities among ethnic groups continue to exist--and why--should lead to more enlightened and workable solutions.

An important point to remember is that affirmative action did not get us where we are today. Rather, economic restructuring--or “deindustrialization”--is a major contributor to existing economic disparities among ethnic groups.

The most evident effects of the decline and retooling of the manufacturing sector have been jobs lost and plants closed or relocated. In the past, it was this sector that offered relatively high wages, benefits and opportunities for upward mobility and retirement security. Economist Goetz Wolff says that more than 700,000 jobs would have been created in Los Angeles had the long-term employment trend that started in the 1980s continued into the 1990s. Instead, since the beginning of the recession in 1989, an estimated 206,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. At the same time, the retail sector has lost 90,000 jobs, while the service sector has lost 30,000 jobs.

For African Americans and Latinos, this has meant that gains achieved in manufacturing during the ‘60s and ‘70s and in the defense and aerospace industry during the 1980s virtually have been wiped out. Rather than taking jobs away from whites, as affirmative action foes contend, minorities have suffered alongside whites in the battering of the state economy. Indeed, one of the most dramatic--and adverse--consequences of this restructuring has been a continued widening of the income gap between the poor (77% of whom are minorities), the working poor (78% of whom are minorities) and those with middle incomes and above (54% of whom are white).

Accompanying deindustrialization has been “reindustrialization,” in the form of an expansion of light manufacturing in such sectors as the garment industry and electronic assembly.

Employment in these industries often means lower wages and fewer benefits, and their use of advanced technologies means these sectors are less labor intensive and require fewer managers. So while these apparent growth industries should offer new employment opportunities for all, they don’t.

African Americans, because of hiring practices, are locked out. And because few new middle management positions have been created, limited employment opportunities exist for whites. Meanwhile, both Asians and Latinos are disproportionately represented in these emerging new industries. Researchers Allan Scott and Mark Drayse of UCLA’s Lewis Center for Regional Studies have found that in the emerging electronics industry, Asians and Hispanics constitute 18.4% and 29.3% of the production workers, respectively. Blacks, on the other hand, make up only 3.6% of production workers in this labor force. The number of African Americans in the garment and furniture industries is even smaller. Affirmative action has not brought about this reality.

The ethnic restructuring taking place in Southern California has been as dramatic as the economic restructuring. Between 1970 and 1990, for example, the Anglo proportion of the region’s population declined from 68% to 41%. The Latino population grew from 18% to 38%. The African American population remained relatively stable (between 10% and 11%), while the Asian American population grew from 3% to 10%. The rapid increase in ethnic minorities entering the work force is due more to increased numbers than affirmative action.

As a consequence of Los Angeles’ economic and demographic restructuring, four types of mismatches have occurred:

* Spatial mismatch: When the residential location of job seekers is sufficiently removed from employment opportunities, it becomes extremely difficult for job seekers to acquire employment, even in a growing economy. Major plant closings between 1978 and 1982 took place primarily in central Los Angeles. New craft specialty industries and job growth centers are located largely outside the Central City.

* Skills mismatch: New modes of production require skills that are not readily available within the labor force.

* Income mismatch: When people are employed at low-wage jobs, their earned income is not sufficient to allow them to rise much above the poverty level. Recent immigrants--who also happen to be ethnic minorities--most often are caught in this trap.

* Ethnic mismatch: Employers often recruit and hire people from particular ethnic groups based upon their perceptions of worker productivity. The result is that African American males frequently get excluded form the work force.

Affirmative action has attempted to address only the ethnic mismatch. And clearly, the data shows that the ethnic gap persists.

*

The challenge for policy makers is to understand these mismatches so that they can develop strategies to overcome them. Policy solutions for the spatial mismatch have focused on expanding the region’s transportation system. The skills mismatch is being addressed through various training programs. Until effective alternatives can be formulated, the ethnic mismatch must be addressed through affirmative action.

Simplistic solutions will have no impact whatsoever on the root cause of the economic distress now being faced by the region. But an all-out assault on affirmative action will send a signal to minorities that the doors that have been open for increased access may now be permanently locked.