World War II and Black Economic Progress

Andreas Ferrara

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: During the 1940s, a substantial share of Southern Black men moved from low-skilled to much better paying semi-skilled jobs. Using newly digitized military data, I show that counties with higher World War II casualty rates among semi-skilled White soldiers saw an increase in the share of semi-skilled Black workers. These deaths opened new employment opportunities for Black Southerners and, together with learning effects by employers, can explain up to 22.6% of the occupational upgrading at mid-century. I provide evidence that the casualty-induced labor shortages reduced racial barriers to entry, leading to a positive selection of Black workers into semi-skilled employment.

Keywords: African-Americans; Occupational Choice; World War II JEL Classification: J15; J24; N42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-lab and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Journal Article: World War II and Black Economic Progress (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cge:wacage:387

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