http://cmcap.com/home.asp?sec=communications&entry_id=26
What an exciting time this is for some. And frightening, and dangerous for others.
If you are part of the entrepreneurial mass movement then you probably already understand that something big is underway that will make for unexpected winners and losers.
On one hand there is the incredible shifts in globalization, technology and education creating chaos, opportunity and displacement. In most nations the dynamics are the same: technology being utilized by elites, the young, and close-knit communities in new and threatening ways; a search in outside societies for cheaper labor pools; and a middle-class or older population unable to compete with the cheaper labor or adapt to the new uses of technology.
In America we are familiar with the story of immigrant labor from Mexico ‘doing work Americans won’t do.’ But we are less familiar with the fact that Mexico imports 40,000 guest workers from Guatemala to pick fruit each year. Yes, supposedly ‘doing work Mexicans won’t do.’
The most dramatic picture of the scenario we described two paragraphs ago is the United States of America. If ever there was evidence that we needed to make the case about where and how Blacks, Latinos, and even the White Middle-Class have been, or are being left behind we need little more than the following data from the Department of Labor, and then that compiled by Princeton economist Alan Blinder:
* Occupations with Greatest Percentage of Blacks, 2003
Occupation Number %Black
Telephone Operators 56,000 39.8%
Barbers 101,000 34.9%
Nursing, psychiatric, and
Home health aides 1,806,000 34.6%
Postal Service Clerks 167,000 30.4%
Postal Service Mail
Sorties 116,000 29.8%
Refuse and recyclable
Material collectors 81,000 29.5%
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs 277,000 28.7%
Security guards and gaming
Surveillance officers 798,000 28.4%
Mail clerks and machine
Operators 154,000 28.4%
Healthcare support
Occupations 2,921,000 25.9%
* Occupations with Greatest Percentage of Hispanics, 2003
Occupation Number % Hispanic
Drywall and ceiling tile installers
213,000 49.6%
Pressers, textile, garment, and related
Materials
76,000 47.1%
Graders and sorters of agricultural products 68,000 44.7%
Butchers and other meat processing
Workers 304,000 44.3%
Cement masons and concrete finishers 115,000 44.0%
Packaging machine operators 318,000 42.4%
Grounds maintenance workers 1,280,000 40.2%
Roofers 269,000 39.4%
Farming, fishing, and forestry workers 991,000 39.0%
Maids and housekeepers 1,365,000 38.2%
*“Most Vulnerable” – Selected occupations ranked by Princeton Economist Alan Blinder as “highly off shoreable” (jobs in America that could easily go overseas)
Occupation # of U.S. Workers In Field
Computer Programmers 389,090
Data Entry Keyers 296,700
Actuaries 15,770
Film and Video Editors 15,200
Mathematicians 2,930
Medical Transcriptions 90,380
Interpreters and Translators 21,930
Economists 12,470
Graphic Designers 178,530
Bookeeping, Accounting,
Auditing Clerks 1,815,340
Microbiologists 15,250
Financial Analysts 180,910
In summary, the data suggests that Blacks and Latinos have already been left behind, locked into fields that others don’t want to fill, and services that they are currently unchallenged in. In the case of Blacks – many services like barbering of Blacks, have virtually always been a Black monopoly, by the permission of White entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Decades ago, the government became the number one employer of Blacks, and some of that is still unwinding – less so for Black females than males – but it is still an expectation of ours to see Black Americans heavily staffed at places like the Post Office.
In the case of White Americans – middle class professionals, to be more precise – the hand writing is on the wall. Due to outsourcing, offshoring, and cheaper labor available abroad, a significant loss is going to be felt in upcoming years.
To put it in raw, blunt and crude terms, I have been saying for two years that there are only three jobs left for Blacks and Latinos – that of 1) Gladiator/Warrior (athletes and soldiers) 2) Fool/Jester (entertainers) and 3) Maid and Attendant (servant and caretaker).
This is hard for many to take, especially those most emotionally invested in social and economic integration, but the data supports the harsh language.
If this isn’t enough to stoke the fires of Doing For Self, I don’t know what is.
What an exciting time this is for some. And frightening, and dangerous for others.
If you are part of the entrepreneurial mass movement then you probably already understand that something big is underway that will make for unexpected winners and losers.
On one hand there is the incredible shifts in globalization, technology and education creating chaos, opportunity and displacement. In most nations the dynamics are the same: technology being utilized by elites, the young, and close-knit communities in new and threatening ways; a search in outside societies for cheaper labor pools; and a middle-class or older population unable to compete with the cheaper labor or adapt to the new uses of technology.
In America we are familiar with the story of immigrant labor from Mexico ‘doing work Americans won’t do.’ But we are less familiar with the fact that Mexico imports 40,000 guest workers from Guatemala to pick fruit each year. Yes, supposedly ‘doing work Mexicans won’t do.’
The most dramatic picture of the scenario we described two paragraphs ago is the United States of America. If ever there was evidence that we needed to make the case about where and how Blacks, Latinos, and even the White Middle-Class have been, or are being left behind we need little more than the following data from the Department of Labor, and then that compiled by Princeton economist Alan Blinder:
* Occupations with Greatest Percentage of Blacks, 2003
Occupation Number %Black
Telephone Operators 56,000 39.8%
Barbers 101,000 34.9%
Nursing, psychiatric, and
Home health aides 1,806,000 34.6%
Postal Service Clerks 167,000 30.4%
Postal Service Mail
Sorties 116,000 29.8%
Refuse and recyclable
Material collectors 81,000 29.5%
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs 277,000 28.7%
Security guards and gaming
Surveillance officers 798,000 28.4%
Mail clerks and machine
Operators 154,000 28.4%
Healthcare support
Occupations 2,921,000 25.9%
* Occupations with Greatest Percentage of Hispanics, 2003
Occupation Number % Hispanic
Drywall and ceiling tile installers
213,000 49.6%
Pressers, textile, garment, and related
Materials
76,000 47.1%
Graders and sorters of agricultural products 68,000 44.7%
Butchers and other meat processing
Workers 304,000 44.3%
Cement masons and concrete finishers 115,000 44.0%
Packaging machine operators 318,000 42.4%
Grounds maintenance workers 1,280,000 40.2%
Roofers 269,000 39.4%
Farming, fishing, and forestry workers 991,000 39.0%
Maids and housekeepers 1,365,000 38.2%
*“Most Vulnerable” – Selected occupations ranked by Princeton Economist Alan Blinder as “highly off shoreable” (jobs in America that could easily go overseas)
Occupation # of U.S. Workers In Field
Computer Programmers 389,090
Data Entry Keyers 296,700
Actuaries 15,770
Film and Video Editors 15,200
Mathematicians 2,930
Medical Transcriptions 90,380
Interpreters and Translators 21,930
Economists 12,470
Graphic Designers 178,530
Bookeeping, Accounting,
Auditing Clerks 1,815,340
Microbiologists 15,250
Financial Analysts 180,910
In summary, the data suggests that Blacks and Latinos have already been left behind, locked into fields that others don’t want to fill, and services that they are currently unchallenged in. In the case of Blacks – many services like barbering of Blacks, have virtually always been a Black monopoly, by the permission of White entrepreneurs and businesspersons. Decades ago, the government became the number one employer of Blacks, and some of that is still unwinding – less so for Black females than males – but it is still an expectation of ours to see Black Americans heavily staffed at places like the Post Office.
In the case of White Americans – middle class professionals, to be more precise – the hand writing is on the wall. Due to outsourcing, offshoring, and cheaper labor available abroad, a significant loss is going to be felt in upcoming years.
To put it in raw, blunt and crude terms, I have been saying for two years that there are only three jobs left for Blacks and Latinos – that of 1) Gladiator/Warrior (athletes and soldiers) 2) Fool/Jester (entertainers) and 3) Maid and Attendant (servant and caretaker).
This is hard for many to take, especially those most emotionally invested in social and economic integration, but the data supports the harsh language.
If this isn’t enough to stoke the fires of Doing For Self, I don’t know what is.
