Past a Paycheck: Creating Lasting Opportunity for Black Workers

Black workers have seen gains in their paychecks over the past year–but have they also seen gains in opportunities?

The historically tight labor market has pushed up wages for a wide range of workers, but some of the biggest gains have been for lower-wage, young, and Black workers. Overall, wages went up 7.4% in 2022’s overheated labor market. For Black workers, however, wages went up a median 11.4%, while younger and lower-wage workers saw increases of roughly 10%.

That means Black workers were among the few who kept ahead of inflation last year, which ran at 7.1% for 2022.

Clearly that’s welcome news this Black History Month, but it also doesn’t change a long-standing problem: Blacks and Hispanics make less on average than white workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that median weekly earnings for Black full-time workers were $896, compared to $1,111 for white workers.

The persistence of the wage gap takes us back to a question that’s been crucial since the civil rights movement: how big is the opportunity gap for Black Americans? Rising wages are a plus, but are they just more money for otherwise dead-end jobs?

For many young workers in entry level jobs, getting ahead is no better than a 50-50 shot, according to Lightcast research. In a report for the Schultz Family Foundation, we found that  half (52%) of entry-level workers with no bachelor’s degree and less than two years’ experience reached better paying jobs in five years. Meanwhile 48% of these workers remained in a cycle of entry-level jobs.

The concept behind career pathways is simple. Rather than attempt to make big leaps between careers (like going back to school for a four-year degree), career pathways leverage what workers already know. By establishing how the skills in one job overlap with another (“skill adjacency”) you can assess exactly what workers need to know to move between different roles.

This can be applied to any career and any situation, but it has a particular application when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

Take, for example, the long-standing challenge of creating more opportunities for people of color in STEM fields. Women of color are 20% of the US population, but they’re only 5% of the tech industry workforce

In research with Npower, Lightcast used skill adjacencies to map out practical pathways from non-tech jobs to tech careers, with specific recommendations for education and training. Using this strategy, the report found there were 470,000 “tech-eligible” women of color who could be trained into tech careers. 

In research with Npower, Lightcast used skill adjacencies to map out practical pathways from non-tech jobs to tech careers, with specific recommendations for education and training. Using this strategy, the report found there were 470,000 “tech-eligible” women of color who could be trained into tech careers.

For example, there is considerable skill overlap between office technicians/typists and data specialists. But 27% of all office technicians/typists are women of color, compared to 14% of data specialists. And data specialists make $36,000 more, on average, than office technicians.

The best way of making sure people make more money is to get them into better jobs. Mapping out opportunities–and then making sure both employers and employees have the means to seize them–is what will ensure more Americans have the chance to get ahead.