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October 11, 2012

Amtrak train

Transportation Projects Would Put More Black Men to Work, Analyst Says

Retirements in the industry will open job opportunities for black men

by Frederick H. Lowe
Investing in public transportation infrastructure is a ticket to ride for higher black-male employment, says an analyst with a Washington, D.C., think tank.

Building new commuter rail lines, subways, elevated trains, bike paths, walking paths, highways and bus lines would benefit black men in several ways, Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute, said during an EPI-sponsored forum titled, “Transporting Black Men to Good Jobs: Transportation Infrastructure, Transportation Jobs, and Public Transit.” The forum was held September 26 in Washington, D.C.

Algernon Austin
Algernon Austin
“Roughly one-quarter of the decline in employment for black men from 2007 to 2011 was due to their loss of jobs in construction,” Austin said. “Investing in transportation infrastructure is a good mechanism to improve labor-market conditions for black-male construction workers.”

Austin estimates that African Americans could obtain as much as 14 percent of all jobs created by large public transit investment projects.

“Blacks are only about 11 percent of the labor force, so these projects bring a slightly disproportionate benefit to black workers,” he said. “About three-quarters of the jobs created from infrastructure investments go to men, and most of the jobs pay medium-to-high wages. Projects such as addressing the backlog of repair work in all of our public transit systems would bring a tremendous benefit to the nation as a whole and provide opportunities for blacks to obtain about 160,000 jobs.”

The transportation industry is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, yet it is experiencing a great number of retirements. The transportation industry is one of the few industries where black men are overrepresented. The Community Service Society of New York, which provides research and policy analysis, reports that in New York City, 8.5 percent of all men work in transportation, but 15.5 percent of black men are employed by the city’s extensive transportation system.

The Transportation Learning Center, a Silver Spring, Md., nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public transportation locally and nationally, noted that the transportation industry is projected to grow significantly in the coming years yet is experiencing a great number of retirements.

“This presents a great opportunity for increasing the employment of black men in good jobs,” said Austin, adding that although black men are overrepresented in transportation overall, they are underrepresented in the industry’s more highly paid technical and repair positions.

African-American households have the lowest automobile ownership among racial groups, making it difficult for black men to reach jobs in outlying areas. The Transportation Learning Center, however, has been working with unions to establish apprenticeships and career ladders to place blacks into those more highly skilled positions.

Once transportation projects were completed, they would provide jobs in operations and maintenance.

Expanded public transportation systems would also assist black men in getting to jobs in outlying areas because African-American households have the lowest automobile ownership among racial groups.

Some 63.3 percent of African-American households own automobiles, compared with 87.9 percent of white households,  81.3 percent of Asian households and 75.8 percent of Hispanics households, Austin said.

“As our metropolitan areas have become more sprawling, more jobs have become geographically inaccessible to blacks,” Austin said. “Good public transportation systems can improve African Americans’ employment opportunities by increasing their access to jobs.”

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