>Yoshie Quotes Boushey:
>
>>Boushey's numbers don't demonstrate the above, since according to her
>own findings "[i]ncreases in unemployment for discriminated-against
>workers lowers all earnings" (p. 6).
>
>You are absolutely right. She says several other placers on that same
>page that unemployment of any segment lowers wages for all segments --
>just not as much.
The "just not as much" is important to her argument. The conclusion of her LBO piece says:
>What about regional pay levels as a whole? Is there some central
>unemployment rate that sets the tone for the whole region? It seems
>that white men play this role: pay levels are far more sensitive to
>unemployment rates of whites and men (that is, the elasticities are
>greater) than to those for blacks and women. In other words, the
>unemployment rate of the groups that are hypothesized to be in the
>reserve army of labor does not have a strong effect on the earnings
>of the aggregate population.
>
>These findings confirm suspicions that labor markets remain highly
>segmented along lines of sex and race - that they operate in part as
>worlds of their own. Increases in unemployment for
>discriminated-against workers lowers all earnings, but to a lesser
>extent than the unemployment of non-discriminated against groups.
>Thus, in 1994, with all else being equal, individuals who lived in
>large urban areas with relatively high unemployment rates for whites
>or males experienced lower pay than individuals living in large
>urban areas with a relatively high unemployment rate for
>African-Americans or females.
>
>These findings support the argument that it is in the interest of
>whites and men to maintain their privilege because it sustains their
>higher earnings. In bad times, when even whites or males lose their
>jobs, all groups suffer in terms of pay, but when African-Americans
>or women lose their jobs, there's not much fallout for other groups.
>These findings suggest why there is so little discussion in the
>media or in academia of the excruciatingly high unemployment rates
>for African-Americans in urban areas. Persistently high black
>unemployment rates don't really affect the pay or employment of
>white workers. No wonder they don't seem to care.