Employment Opportunities for Minorities in
 Montgomery County, Ohio

Chapter 3  

Data Analysis

The purpose of the data analysis is to discern specific racial differences in employment patterns between minorities and nonminorities in managerial and professional jobs. The design of the data analysis in this chapter has seven sections: (1) area employers, industry, and employment; (2) unemployment and labor force participation rates; (3) managerial and professional jobs and minority availability; (4) private employers and the utilization of minorities in managerial and professional jobs; (5) public employers and the utilization of minorities in managerial and professional jobs; (6) utilization of minorities in managerial and professional jobs by individual firms; and (7) educational attainment. Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 contain statistical analysis of the data.

Area Employers, Industry, and Employment

Montgomery County, Ohio, is home to 48 large employers, defined as companies with employment exceeding 1,000. The economic base of the county is diversified in terms of its products and services. Manufacturing, education, public administration, transportation, automotive, retail, hospitals, information services, computers, and aviation are some of the industries in the county. Excluding firms that are retail businesses, health care facilities, and education entities, the largest private employers and their employment (to the nearest 100) and product are shown in table 3.1.

Four government employers with employment over 1,000 also serve the public in Montgomery County: Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Federal), employing 9,000 individuals; the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Federal), employing 1,800 individuals; the county of Montgomery (county), employing 5,000 individuals; and the city of Dayton (local), employing 2,000 individuals. 

The Montgomery County area began a surge of growth in the first half of the 20th century. The growth of the city of Dayton and Montgomery County in the 1920s and 1930s was primarily due to outside migration—particularly from Appalachia and the South—to the area’s many manufacturing jobs producing everything from refrigerators to car parts to paper products. In recent years, however, that legacy of manufacturing has declined significantly. Of the jobs that Montgomery County currently provides, only 15 percent are in manufacturing, while the retail sector has become the area’s largest employing industry. National trends as well as local indicators suggest that the manufacturing sector of the economy will continue to decline.   

As the manufacturing base in the county declined, the proportion of white-collar jobs increased. Sixty-two percent of all jobs in Montgomery County are now classified as white collar (see table 3.2). These include executive, managerial, professional, technical, sales, office, clerical, and administrative support positions. The service sector has shown strong rates of growth in the Montgomery County area, generally increasing at a rate of over 7 percent through the early 1980s and over 4 percent annually since. In the city of Dayton, the service sector has shown much more modest rates of growth and actually showed a decline in the number of jobs between 1987 and 1995. Developments in the health care industry have also had a major impact on the local economy, since Dayton is home to six major health care providers. 

Unemployment and Labor Force Participation  

Two common statistics to measure labor market conditions are the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate. The unemployment rate indicates the extent to which available labor resources are used. It is calculated by determining the ratio of individuals unemployed to the number of individuals in the labor force. To be considered part of the labor force an individual must be 16 years of age or older and either employed or unemployed. 

For purposes of determining labor market conditions, unemployed individuals are people who are 16 years of age or over, did not work during the survey period, were available for work, and were (1) looking for work during the past 4 weeks, (2) waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off, (3) had a job to which they were going to report within 30 days, or (4) would have been actively looking for work had they not been ill. Individuals who are not employed and are no longer looking for work are not considered unemployed, rather they are considered outside, i.e., not participating in the labor force. 

In Montgomery County African Americans suffer a much higher rate of unemployment than whites. The unemployment rate for African Americans in the county is 13.1 percent, while the unemployment rate for whites in the county is 4.6 percent. African Americans have more than twice the unemployment of whites (see table 3.3).

Not only do African Americans suffer higher rates of unemployment, but their rate of participation in the labor force is significantly lower than that of whites. In 1996 whites in Montgomery County participated in the labor force at a rate of 65.9 percent. That means that 65.9 percent of all white adults were either employed or considered officially unemployed. The participation rate for African Americans is much lower, 55.5 percent (see table 3.4).[1] This is evidence of a much larger proportion of African Americans than white workers being discouraged workers, i.e., workers without jobs who no longer actively seek work. Put in other terms, in Montgomery County African Americans—who are 18 percent of the county’s population—are 15 percent of the county labor force.[2] This contrasts with whites, who are 81 percent of the county’s population and 84 percent of the county labor force.  

Managerial and Professional Jobs and Minority Availability 

As part of its mandate under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended,[3] the EEOC requires annual reports from private employers as to the composition of their work forces by race, gender, ethnicity, and job category. This information is recorded on EEO–1 survey forms, and is required of all private employers subject to the provision of title VII of the Civil Rights Act with 100 or more employees, and all private employers with Federal contracts with 50 or more employees. Financial institutions are mandated to report if they serve as a depository of Government funds in any amount or are a financial institution that is an issuing and paying agent for U.S. Savings Bonds. Mortgage companies affiliated with a financial institution are also required to report as are companies with fewer than 100 employees if they are owned or affiliated with another company and the entire enterprise employs a total of 100 or more employees.[4] 

The EEO–1 report includes all full-time and part-time employees listed by race/ethnicity, sex, and job category. There are five racial and ethnic categories: 

• White (Not of Hispanic origin). All persons having origins in any of the original people of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East. 

• Black (Not of Hispanic origin). All persons having origins in the black racial groups of Africa. 

• Hispanic. All persons of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. 

•  Asian or Pacific Islander. All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands.  

•  American Indian or Alaskan Native. All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America and who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.[5]