Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

ployment rate for black youth between
16 and 19 was 26 percent,
more than twice the rate for white
youth .
Between 1960 and 1966, there
were substantial increases in the
number of black people holding
white collar positions, and less dramatic
but still increases for blacks
holding blue collar positions . The
increase in white collar employment
shows the largest gain in clerical
and sales positions . Blacks are
still under-represented in the skilled
white collar positions, as of 1966,
with the situation for black males
and black females showing some
significant differences . In professional
and technical positions black
males represent 42 percent as
many as there would be if there
were full occupational equality,
while females in the same category
represent 58 percent as many as
would be found in a situation of full
equality. On the other hand, in the
clerical positions black males represent
89 percent as many as
would be found in a situation of
full equality while black females
comprise only 39 percent. These
and other data which we have analyzed
indicate that the black female
has a better chance of obtaining a
job consistent with her education
and training than the black male in
the professional, technical and
managerial categories, while black
males are more likely than females
to be adequately represented in
clerical positions .
NEGRO DIGEST March 1968
(Continued on page 84)
The chronic problems black people
face with education, employment,
and occupational levels are
reflected in the income levels of the
population, although the Sixties
have seen changes in income for
blacks . There are varying interpretations
of income changes in the
black community and they produce
different conclusions . Some analysts
talk about the income of families,
while others talk about the
income of persons, and then differentiate
between males and females .
Furthermore, income changes can
be analyzed in terms of the percentage
change in median income, the
ratio of black to white median income,
or the absolute black-white
differences in income. Let us see
how the black situation in the Sixties
stands up in terms of all these
measurements .
In 1960, 68 percent of all black
families had incomes under $5,000
per year (36 percent of all white
families were at this level), but by
1966 this had declined to 56 percent
of all families ( 27 percent
for whites) . The proportion of
black families with incomes between
$5,004 and $10,000 went up
from 27 to 33 percent (white families
declined from 46 to 44 percent),
between 1960 and 1966 .
Black families with incomes over
$10,000 went up from 6 to 12 percent
in the same period of time
(with a corresponding increase
from 18 to 30 percent for white
families) . These figures are ad-
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