Occupational mobility of black migrants in the West during the 1950s

Abstract

Previous research on the Great Migration in the USA has focused on the economic outcomes of black migrants in the North. In comparison, the economic outcomes of black migrants in the West, particularly during the second wave of the Great Migration that occurred between 1940 and 1970, have not been fully explored in the literature. This article analyzes the occupational mobility of southern-born black male migrants in the West in the 1950s relative to various subgroups residing in the West: western-born white and black males and southern-born white males. Regression results from the 1% 1950 and the 1960 census microdata samples indicate that unlike in the North in the 1910s where southern-born blacks were not as upwardly mobile as northern-born blacks during the first wave of the Great Migration, there was no difference between western-born blacks and southern-born blacks in their probability of getting employed in a particular occupational class in the West in the 1950s, during the second wave of the Great Migration. However, compared to white males, although the majority of black males remained employed in lower-blue-collar occupations (as laborers and service workers), southern-born blacks were successful at increasing their representation in upper-blue-collar occupations (into Crafts/Sales).

Keywords::

• black migration
• west migration
• black occupational mobility
• occupational assimilation
• southern-born black migration

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the author.

Notes

^1.Hahn, Nation Under Our Feet, 465; Unless otherwise noted, all states in the southern census region are assigned to the South. The Northeast contains the New England and Mid-Atlantic Census divisions. The Midwest encompasses the East and West North Central Census divisions and the West includes the Mountain Division (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) and Pacific division (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington). (Ruggles, Integrated Public Use Microdata, 2008).

^2. Labor shortages created by World War I and the Immigration Act of 1924 which effectively halted the flow of European immigrants led to the out-migration of blacks from the South to the North. Most of the black population moved to Chicago, Cleveland and Pittsburg. Although some blacks moved to the West during this period, they migrated westwards in much smaller numbers. For example, Denver had a black population of only 7836 in 1940; Oakland 8462; Portland 1931; San Francisco 4846; and Seattle 3789. Only Los Angeles had a substantial black population in 1940: 64,000 (see Flamming, “African Americans in the Twentieth-Century,” 224).

^3.Boustan, “Competition in Promised Land,” 756–783.

^4.Flamming, “African Americans in the Twentieth-Century,” 230.

^5.Holt, “Second Great Migration,” 23.

^6.Hamilton, “Negro Leaves,” 273–295.

^7.Price-Spratlen, “Urban Destination Selection,” 437–469.

^8. SeeFlamming, “African Americans in the Twentieth-Century,” 232. Between 1950 and 1970, the black population in Oakland jumped from 47,526 to 124,710; in San Francisco from 43,502 to 96,078 and in LA from 171,209 to 503,606.

^9. See Johnson and Campbell, Black Migration in America, 65. Some studies suggest that mechanization in the South was not the only factor responsible for black migration in the 1950s. Migration offered a partial solution to the problems of structural inequalities prevalent in the South (see Price-Spratlen, “Urban Destination Selection,” 437–469; Tolnay, “Great Migration,” 235–252 and Heinicke, “African American Migration,” 501–520; Note that the new agricultural economy of the South and the Southern urban economy did not offer blacks any substantial employment opportunities (Flamming, “African Americans in the Twentieth-Century,” 236). For other, long term causes of black migration, see Margo, Race and Schooling, 109–128.

^10. See Boustan, “Black Migration, White Flight,” 1–5; Boustan, “Competition in the Promised Land,” 756–783; Maloney, “Higher Places in the Industrial Machinery,” 475–502; Maloney, African American Migration to the North,” 1–11; Maloney, “Migration and Economic Opportunity,” 147–165; and Masters, “Are Black Migrants From the South,” 411–423.In “Higher Places in the Industrial Machinery” Maloney analyzes the occupational mobility of southern-born blacks in the North in the 1910s and concludes that although occupational segregation reduced between Northern-born black workers and whites during the 1910s, southern-born blacks did not fully share in these gains. In “Competition in the Promised Land” Boustan studies the black–white wage convergence in the North from 1940 to 1970 and concludes that although migration from the South to the North was an avenue for economic advancement for blacks, not all blacks gained from migration.

^11.Flamming, “African Americans in the Twentieth-Century,” 230.

^12.Maloney, “Higher Places in the Industrial Machinery,” 475–502.

^13. Note however that the 1940 Census has information on ‘State or country of residence 5 years ago,’ while the 1950 Census has information on ‘State or country of residence 1 year ago.’

^14. White-collar occupations include professionals, managers, officials and proprietors, clerks and kindred. Laborers include farm laborers as well as individuals employed as gardeners, fishermen, lumbermen, and teamsters. Services include domestic workers such as housekeepers as well as non-domestic workers such as barbers, firemen, janitors, porters, and watchmen. One can rank occupations using income scores available in the IPUMS. According to this ranking, workers employed as Craftsmen/Sales workers and Operatives are classified as upper-blue-collar workers while workers employed as laborers and service workers are classified as lower-blue-collar workers.

^15. Note that counterfactual occupational probabilities for southern born-blacks are whites or western-born blacks, who may not be selected in the same way as southern migrants.

^16. Refer to Maloney's “Higher Places in the Industrial Machinery” for the occupational mobility of southern-born blacks vs. northern-born blacks in the North.

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Notes on contributors

Raaj Tiagi

Raaj Tiagi is an Instructor of Economics at Vancouver Community College in British Columbia, Canada. He received his MA and PhD in Economics from the University of California, Irvine, and has published papers on health and labor issues in Canada and the USA. He also works as a senior economist in Vancouver.