Racial and Ethnic Inequality and the China Shock
Working Paper 30646
DOI 10.3386/w30646
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Minority workers tend to be disproportionately harmed by negative economic shocks. Indeed, we show that Hispanic populations experienced worse employment losses due to import competition from China, relative to whites, largely due to lower education levels. In contrast, Black-white employment and wage gaps actually narrowed due to relative growth in non-manufacturing sectors. We show that Black workers were less attached to manufacturing by 2000, compared to whites, and were therefore more poised to take advantage of China shock induced reallocation to services. The lasting negative impacts of the China shock on exposed communities were primarily driven by white workers.