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The Review of Economics and Statistics 2021

Torn Apart? The Impact of Manufacturing Employment Decline on Black and White Americans

Eric D. Gould

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, CEPR, IZA, and CReAM

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of manufacturing employment decline on the socioeconomic outcomes within and between black and white americans since 1960. The analysis shows that manufacturing decline had a negative impact on blacks in terms of their wages, employment, marriage rates, house values, poverty rates, death rates, single parenthood, teen motherhood, child poverty, and child mortality. In addition, the decline in manufacturing increased inequality within the black community for wages and other outcomes. Similar patterns are found for whites, but to a lesser degree—leading to larger gaps between whites and blacks in wages, marriage patterns, poverty, single-parenthood, and death rates.

DOI
10.1162/rest_a_00918
Pages
1-16
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref

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