Two Job Families Could Hold the Key to Expanding Pathways for Black STARs
Companies’ efforts to increase diversity are failing Black workers. A report from Human Resources consulting company Mercer found that across industries in the U.S., Black workers are underrepresented at every career level above support staff when compared to their representation in the general population. To diversify their organizations, employers have to expand their talent pools to consider six million Black workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARS) who have the skills to transition to higher-wage work. By identifying and hiring these workers, employers can go a long way to diversifying their workforce.
Our research shows that while there is at least some representation of Black STARs in almost every job family, the vast majority of them cluster in a subset of occupations. There are 2.6 million Black STARs concentrated in two specific job families: Healthcare Support, and Sales & Office Administrative occupations. These job families make up more than 20% of all Black STAR workers and represented in the top occupations for black workers in most states.
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The majority of these workers are in low-wage roles such as Nursing Aides (543,000 black STARs), Customer Service Representatives (264,000), and Administrative Assistants (140,000). We see fewer Black STARs in higher wage roles in these job families, such as Medical Assistants (85,000), Sales Representatives (39,000), and HR Workers (82,000). And while STARs in these job families do transition to higher-wage work, Black STARs are underrepresented in these transitions. For example, while black workers make up 18% of all Customer Service Representatives, they are severely underrepresented in the higher wage roles these workers frequently transition to.
Figure 1: Common Occupational Transitions, Hourly Wages and Proportion of Black Workers in Customer Service (2015–2019)
Understanding where Black workers are, what skills they have, and how those skills are useful in higher-wage work can help us define a pathway to mobility for them. Many of the STARs in these three job families have skills to do higher-wage work, if given the opportunity. For example, based on the O*NET skills requirement, Nursing Aides, who make a median wage of $12.80/hour, demonstrate similar skills needed for higher wage healthcare support roles, such as Occupational Therapy Aide, who make a median wage of $18.25/hour.
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Figure 2: Skill Similarities Between Nursing Aides and Occupational Therapy Aides.
However, there are barriers that keep STARs from making these transitions. The most obvious is the explicit and implicit bias in hiring, promotion, and reskilling. Employers must first improve their efforts to debias their company processes and commit to a culture of diversity and inclusion.
But there are also practical changes to their talent management practices which organizations can take to help Black STARs navigate these pathways successfully. First, employers should remove degrees from their requirements for these roles. Workers often do not need a college degree to be successful in higher wage roles — as proven by the thousands of STARs already occupying these jobs — , and the degree requirement puts unnecessary burden on Black STARs. Second, employers should take active steps to hire from entry-level roles in these job families, which will increase the number of Black STARs in their talent pools. Finally, employers should focus on upskilling and promoting Black STARs within their organizations.
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This blog post was written by Martin Evelyn, Insights Manager at Opportunity@Work as part of the new STARlight Blog Series.
The STARlight Blog Series shares data, insights and stories, from Opportunity@Work research as well as the research of others in the field, to shed light on barriers to and opportunities for economic mobility for STARs.
