Papers on Organizational Transformation and Racial Inequality

Abstract

This dissertation asks how transformations in the organization of work have shaped the course of American racial inequality. It tackles this question in three chapters. The first chapter traces the rise of racial and ethnic segregation by firm over the last fifty years. The second extends this analysis back to the early 20th century, and reveals a contrasting pattern: during this earlier era, more capital-intensive, higher-paying factories hired more black workers, but employed them in the lowest-rung jobs. The third chapter extends the outcome from pay inequality to exposure to unsafe work. It shows that black and Hispanic workers are over-represented in industries with higher injury and illness rates, but that the overall rates have dropped considerably since the 1990s.