Economic Justice in Marginalized Communities

The heart of the Standing on the Side of Love campaign is understanding and responding to identity-based discrimination. As we Occupy Love for 30 Days, and contemplate the meaning of this moment and what we are called to do, here are resources that may help in your discussions about how these economic times particularly take a toll on those who are historically marginalized.

Several key facts are listed from each resource with a link to the full text of the articles. You can also download a PDF version of this information.

American Muslims/Arabs

“Hiring Discrimination Against Arab Minorities: Interactions Between Prejudice and Job Characteristics,” Human Performance (2009), http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08959280903120261

-Résumés with Arab names and affiliations negatively influenced job suitability ratings.

Immigrants

“The Contraction in Construction Squeezed Immigrants Hardest,” Economic Policy Institute (2011), http://www.epi.org/publication/the_contraction_in_construction_squeezed_immigrants_hardest/

-From 2007 to 2010, construction employment among foreign-born non-citizen males fell 30.1%, compared with 21.6% among native-born males. While both groups experienced significant job losses, foreign-born non-citizen workers were more heavily concentrated in the lower-paying and harder-hit residential construction jobs.

-The median wage for native-born male construction workers grew by 7.6% to $19.24, while the median wage for foreign-born non-citizen males declined by 3.1% to $12.04 from 2006 to 2010.

-Outside of construction, employment among foreign-born non-citizen males fell 8% compared with 4% among native-born males.

“The Economic Benefits of Immigrant Authorization in California,” Economic Policy Institute (2010), http://www.epi.org/publication/the_economic_benefits_of_immigrant_authorization_in_california/

-The wages earned by California’s unauthorized Latino immigrant workers are substantially lower than those of workers with similar human capital characteristics and in similar jobs (9.5% lower for full-time workers and 4.2% for part-time workers).

-Unauthorized Latino immigrants in California missed out on approximately $2.2 billion in wages and salary income last year alone due solely to their legal status, and the state lost out on the multiplied impacts of that potential income and spending, suggesting a total potential gain of $3.25 billion annually from authorization.

-The loss in wages also represents a loss in income and sales taxes that local, state, and federal governments are unable to capture—including $310 million in income taxes for the state and $1.4 billion for the federal government last year.

“Hunger and Poverty Among Latino Immigrant Children,” Bread for the World (2011), http://www.bread.org/institute/papers/hunger-in-latino-immigrant-families.pdf

-Immigrant children live in families with median incomes 20% lower than the family incomes of children of natives.

-Because contact with state or federal agencies poses a risk of being identified as an unauthorized immigrant, fear of deportation often makes immigrant parents reluctant to seek information and apply for services that their children might qualify for, such as health insurance coverage and nutrition assistance.

-Nearly three times as many immigrant children as natives lack access to a source of health care.

“Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women in the U.S. Food Industry,” Southern Poverty Law Center (2010), http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/injustice-on-our-plates

-Undocumented women typically earn minimum wage or less, get no sick or vacation days, and receive no health insurance.

-Each year, undocumented immigrants contribute as much as $1.5 billion to the Medicare system and $7 billion to the Social Security system, even though they will never be able to collect benefits upon retirement.

-The federal government estimates that 60 percent of farm workers are undocumented immigrants. Farm workers are not covered by workers’ compensation laws in many states and are not entitled to overtime pay under federal law. On smaller farms and in short harvest seasons, they are not entitled to the federal minimum wage. They are excluded from many state health and safety laws.

-Almost a quarter of the workers who butcher and process meat, poultry and fish are undocumented. The U.S. Department of Labor surveyed 51 poultry processing plants and found 100% had violated labor laws by not paying employees for all hours worked. One-third took impermissible deductions from workers’ pay.

-In a recent study of 150 women of Mexican descent working in the fields in California’s Central Valley, 80% said they had experienced sexual harassment compared to roughly half of all women in the U.S. workforce who say they have experienced at least one incident.

LGBT

“The Economic Value of Marriage for Same-Sex Couples,” The Williams Institute (2010), http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/economic-impact-reports/economic-value-of-marriage-same-sex-couples/

-The U.S. General Accounting Office reported in 2004 it had “identified a total of 1,138 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights, and privileges.”

-In 2009, only 21% of firms offering health benefits to employees also reported covering same-sex domestic partners of employees.

-National data from 1996 to 2003 showed 20% of people in same-sex couples were uninsured, compared to only 11.5% of married individuals. Anywhere from 30% to 43% of that gap can be accounted for by differential treatment of same-sex partners by employers.

-A 2007 study shows the average person receiving benefits for a domestic partner or same-sex spouse is taxed $1,069 in additional federal income and payroll taxes as a result of the Defense of Marriage Act.

-The Social Security system provides a variety of benefits to spouses that are denied to same-sex couples are deprived of these benefits, even though individuals in these couples must pay into the Social Security program at the same rates as individuals in married different-sex couples.

-A New York Times study found that over a hypothetical 46-year relationship, a worst-case scenario same-sex couple would lose $467,562 worth of financial benefits of marriage, and a best-case scenario couple would lose $41,196.

“ENDA by the Numbers,” National Center for Transgender Equality (2008), http://transequality.org/Resources/enda_by_the_numbers.pdf

-26% of transgender people have been fired because of their gender identity.

-97% of transgender people have been harassed on the job.

-19% of transgender people have been homeless because of their gender identity.

“Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey,” National Center for Transgender Equality (2011), http://transequality.org/PDFs/Executive_Summary.pdf

-Transgender people are four times more likely to live in poverty compared to the general population.

-41% of transgender people reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias or had low household income.

-Transgender people experienced unemployment at twice the rate of the general population, with rates for people of color up to four times the national unemployment rate.

-Transgender people who had lost a job due to bias experienced four times the rate of homelessness, more than double the rate working in the underground economy, and more than double the HIV infection rate, compared to those who did not lose a job due to bias.

-19% of transgender people reported having been refused a home or apartment and 11% reported being evicted because of their gender identity/expression.

-19% of transgender people reported being refused medical care due to their transgender or gender non-conforming status, with even higher numbers among people of color.

“The Respect for Marriage Act: Assessing the Impact of DOMA on American Families” Testimony, The Williams Institute (2011), http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/marriage-and-couples-rights/written-testimony-s-598-the-respect-for-marriage-act-assessing-the-impact-of-doma-on-american-families/

-15% of gay men and 24% of lesbians live in poverty (compared to 7% of general population).

-7.3% of individuals in same-sex couples, or approximately 85,000 individuals, are veterans of the armed forces. Spouses of veterans are eligible for a variety of benefits including pensions, educational assistance, and vocational training. Same-sex partners are not eligible for any of these benefits.

People of Color

“Different Race, Different Recession: American Indian Unemployment in 2010,” Economic Policy Institute (2011), http://www.epi.org/publication/ib289/

-From the first half of 2007 to the first half of 2010, the American Indian unemployment rate nationally increased 7.7 percentage points to 15.2%. This increase was 1.6 times the size of the white increase.

-The employment situation is the worst for American Indians in some of the same regions where it is best for whites: Alaska and the Northern Plains.

“Here’s How Deadly Breast Cancer is For Women of Color in the U.S.,” Colorlines (2011), http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/11/breast_cancer_awareness.html

-While African American women are less likely than white women to be diagnosed with breast cancer, they are more likely to die from it than any other race—and more likely to be diagnosed at an advanced stage.

-African American women under age 45 have a five-year survival rate of 76% compared to young white women who have an 88% survival rate.

-The death rate for all cancers combined is 25% higher for African Americans than for whites.

-Low socioeconomic status, lack of medical coverage, barriers to early detection and screening, and unequal access to improvements in cancer treatment are factors that contribute to the difference in survival rates.

“High Black Unemployment Widespread Across Nation’s Metropolitan Areas,” Economic Policy Institute (2011), http://www.epi.org/publication/high-black-unemployment-widespread-metropolitan-areas/

-In 2009 and 2010, the national black-to-white unemployment rate ratio was basically 2-to-1, meaning that blacks were about twice as likely to be unemployed as whites.

-In Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Baton Rouge in 2010, the black-to-white unemployment rate ratio exceeded 3-to-1.

“Hunger and Poverty Among Latino Immigrant Children,” Bread for the World (2011), http://www.bread.org/institute/papers/hunger-in-latino-immigrant-families.pdf

-More than one in four Latinos lived below the poverty line in 2009.

-Latinos face higher foreclosure rates on loans issued between 2005 and 2008 than whites.

-While 11% of white households have some level of food insecurity, 25.1% of black families and 26.1% of Latino families don’t know whether they’ll have enough food before the next paycheck comes in.

“Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics,” Pew Research Center (2011), http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/26/wealth-gaps-rise-to-record-highs-between-whites-blacks-hispanics/

-The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households.

-From 2005 to 2009, inflation-adjusted median wealth fell by 66% among Hispanic households, 53% among black households, and 31% among Asian households compared with just 16% among white households.

“Whiter Jobs, Higher Wages: Occupational Segregation and the Lower Wages of Black Men,” Economic Policy Institute (2011), http://www.epi.org/publication/whiter_jobs_higher_wages/

-In 2008, black men earned only 71% of what white men earned.

-The average of the annual wages of occupations in which black men are overrepresented is $37,005, compared with $50,333 in occupations in which they are underrepresented.

-After taking educational attainment into account, seven out of eight (87%) of U.S. occupations can be classified as racially segregated.

People with Disabilities

“New Estimates of Disability-Related Wage Discrimination with Controls for Job Demands,” CEPS/INSTEAD (2010), http://www.ceps.lu/pdf/3/art1537.pdf

-The average hourly wage for men with disabilities is $18.57 compared to $23.33 for nondisabled men. Women with disabilities earn an average of $17.02/hour compared to $18.53 for nondisabled women.

-As much as 39 percent of the disabled-nondisabled wage differential is potentially attributed to discrimination.

-Men and women with disabilities earn smaller returns to work experience than do non-disabled workers.

Senior Citizens

“Health Care Consumption and the Relative Well-Being of the Aged,” Brookings Institute (2008), http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/0819_health_care_burtless.aspx

-If medical claims were added to disposable cash incomes, the elderly would see their measured incomes rise more than 20%.

-In 1960 medical spending accounted for less than 7% of total personal consumption. By 2006 this fraction had risen to almost 21%.

-Between 1960 and 2006 the proportion of health spending paid out of public budgets more than doubled, demonstrating the increasing reliance of senior citizens on the government safety net.

“New Disparity in Nursing Homes: Whites Leave, Elders of Color Enter,” Colorlines (2011), http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/10/new_disparity_in_nursing_homes_whites_leave_elders_of_color_enter.html

-Between 1999 and 2008, the number of elderly Latinos living in U.S. nursing homes climbed by 54.9%; Asians increased by 54.1%; and blacks rose 10.8%. Over the same time period, the numbers of white nursing home patients decreased by 10.2% nationwide.

-The growing proportion of minorities in nursing homes is partly due to a lack access to more desirable forms of care compared to wealthier whites.

-In communities that are mostly of color, available nursing homes are often of lower quality and are more likely to close, while assisted living facilities are more likely to be built in areas where residents have higher incomes.

Women

“Two Years of Economic Recovery: Women Lose Jobs, Men Find Them,” Pew Research Center (2011), http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/07/06/two-years-of-economic-recovery-women-lose-jobs-men-find-them/

-From the end of the recession in June 2009 through May 2011, men gained 768,000 jobs and lowered their unemployment rate by 1.1 percentage points to 9.5%. Women, by contrast, lost 218,000 jobs during the same period, and their unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 8.5%.

-Employment trends during the recovery have favored men over women in all but one of the 16 major sectors of the economy.