Introduction
The US labor market is controlled by the demand and supply of knowledge and expertise. This is influenced by the interests and preferences of individuals willing to work. The US economy also attracts foreigners into the country. However, other factors, such as discrimination and racism, exist and control the market.
This practice mostly affects immigrants who relocate to the US to utilize their acquired knowledge and work experience in the U.S. (Waldinger and Lichter, p. 5). This paper analyses the reasons given as to why racism is common in the US labor market. It compares and contrasts various views presented by different authors. Also, the paper projects future solutions that can help reduce this discrimination.
Reasons for Racial disparity in the U.S. labor market
It is expected that if demand and supply for labor existed naturally, the market would be well balanced with no hitches. This would only be possible in the absence of interference from unhealthy practices such as ethnic discrimination and racial issues. The white population has been favored over the blacks in many instances. The main reason for this is the stereotype that whites hold against the blacks.
The whites assume that black people are not as reliable as the whites as they do not work hard. This does not only happen for professional jobs that require college training, but also for casual jobs. Another reason for the differences is that the racial segregation that dates back in the 1960s is yet to get out of the minds of the American people.
During the years of segregation, blacks and whites were separated in various aspects including education and work place. Though such segregation may have come to an end, it will always be felt at some point.
An example of such occurrence is when young people graduate to join the same organization only to realize that the majority are whites. Therefore, the ratio at which they will be admitted in the organization depends on the existing population ratio (Royster, p.12).
It has been noted that historical segregation has persisted, and the progress of ending it is very slow. On the other hand, the whites complain that blacks were favored over them. This is because some forms of employment were precisely meant for the blacks.
Their attempts to acquire these positions have been frustrated because it seemed that to be black was the first qualification for these jobs. Another reason for the equalities is the high demand for certain jobs meant for particular racial groups (Royster, p. 15).
Vallas, Finlay, and Wharton have identified networks as the main source of racism (p. 315). This is because referrals are mainly from the same group of individuals in the work place. If a company has a black manager or owner, the probability of acquiring black workforce is high compared to other races.
Considering that most industries were owned by the dominant whites do before the immigrants came, most organizations are likely to have networks consisting whites. Such networking does not provide the possibility of integrating different racial groups (Vallas, Finlay and Wharton, p. 316).
In the past, majority of the jobs were held by whites. However, with increasing knowledge on employee rights and formation of unions, employment shifted to the blacks and the whites were now being discriminated. Such trends led to black Americans having a great influence on the labor market.
However, this did not have a comprehensive impact on blacks because they were only eligible for inferior jobs. Therefore, knowledge of human rights gave the whites an added advantage in the formal jobs while leaving lower cadre jobs to the blacks (Waldinger and Lichter, p. 168).
Immigration was also a contributing factor to racism. Managers treated foreign workers as “others” and ranked their employees basing on the place of origin.
This was baseless considering that there were no criteria used to measure the ability and eligibility of a given individual to a certain role. It was purely based on stereotypes associated with racial aspects. This led to people with Asian origin being preferred over those with an African descent (Waldinger and Lichter, p. 165).
There is no doubt that individuals have equal capabilities of performing in the job market. However, opportunities of employment are distributed according to racial connotations leading to unemployment of some racial groups.
Also, segregation has strongly contributed to racial discrimination observed in the labor market. For instance, in areas where blacks are dominant, whites develop an “anti-black” attitude. In this case, during recruitment, the whites recruit from their own races and vice versa.
Future for the impacted groups in the U.S. labor market
Doing away with geographical isolation is a major step towards curbing racism in the labor market. Equal distribution implies equal chances of attending high schools and colleges. In turn, this leads to uniformity in employment (Royster, p. 21).
The isolation is said to be a result of immigration where immigrants are separated from the natives. If all people have the same chances in life, then segregating them according to their racial status is unfair.
Another solution is anticipating the effects of immigration into another country. The level at which immigrants participate in the new country’s activities should be put into consideration.
Such planning will help in avoiding the admission of a high number of immigrants that the country cannot support. When the immigrants come, they should be integrated into the new country to avoid incidences of discrimination (Waldinger and Lichter, p. 232).
The advent of the concept of globalization is also a critical asset in the fight against racial discrimination. Globalization has broken down all the boundaries and barriers that prevented individuals from associating freely with others around the world.
In this case, all racial groups should be able to work together as one big family. This will go a long way into solving the problem of racism that was inherent in the society in the past (Vallas, Finlay and Wharton, p. 316).
Conclusion
Racial disparity brings imbalance in the job market. This leads to waste of human resources and unutilized potentials in cases where qualified and trained professionals are left out based on their race. Forcing people to deviate from their areas of interest to serve in other uninteresting jobs based on race is not acceptable in the modern society. This should be shunned as it a violation of human rights.
Therefore, for the improvement and enhancement of individuals and the society, it is necessary to observe equality of various racial groups from all over the world. Placing the right candidate for the right job based on ability, education, and professional qualification leads to improved productivity. In this case, race should not be used as a basis for employing an individual.
Works Cited
Royster, Deirdre. Race and the Invisible Hand: How White Networks Exclude Black Men From Blue Collar Jobs. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Print
Vallas, Steven P, William Finlay, and Amy S. Wharton. The Sociology of Work: Structures and Inequalities. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
Waldinger, Roger and Michael I. Lichter. How The Other Half Works: Immigration and the Social Organization of Labor. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. Print.