Diversity in the Workplace

Employers also had to manage increasingly diverse work forces in the 1980s and 1990s. New ethnic groups -- especially Hispanics and immigrants from various Asian countries -- joined the labor force in growing numbers, and more and more women entered traditionally male-dominated jobs. A growing number of employees filed lawsuits charging that employers discriminated against them on the basis of race, gender, age, or physical disability. The caseload at the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where such allegations are first lodged, climbed to more than 16,000 in 1998 from some 6,900 in 1991, and lawsuits clogged the courts. The legal actions had a mixed track record in court. Many cases were rebuffed as frivolous, but courts also recognized a wide range of legal protections against hiring, promotion, demotion, and firing abuses. In 1998, for example, U.S. Supreme Court rulings held that employers must ensure that managers are trained to avoid sexual harassment of workers and to inform workers of their rights.

The issue of "equal pay for equal work" continued to dog the American workplace. While federal and state laws prohibit different pay rates based on sex, American women historically have been paid less than men. In part, this differential arises because relatively more women work in jobs -- many of them in the service sector -- that traditionally have paid less than other jobs. But union and women's rights organizations say it also reflects outright discrimination. Complicating the issue is a phenomenon in the white-collar workplace called the glass ceiling, an invisible barrier that some women say holds them back from promotion to male-dominated executive or professional ranks. In recent years, women have obtained such jobs in growing numbers, but they still lag significantly considering their proportion of the population.

Similar issues arise with the pay and positions earned by members of various ethnic and racial groups, often referred to as "minorities" since they make up a minority of the general population. (At the end of the 20th century, the majority of Americans were Caucasians of European descent, although their percentage of the population was dropping.) In addition to nondiscrimination laws, the federal government and many states adopted "affirmative action" laws in the 1960s and 1970s that required employers to give a preference in hiring to minorities in certain circumstances. Advocates said minorities should be favored in order to rectify years of past discrimination against them. But the idea proved a contentious way of addressing racial and ethnic problems. Critics complained that "reverse discrimination" was both unfair and counterproductive. Some states, notably California, abandoned affirmative action policies in the 1990s. Still, pay gaps and widely varying unemployment rates between whites and minorities persist. Along with issues about a woman's place in the work force, they remain some of the most troublesome issues facing American employers and workers.

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Next Article: Labor Cost-Cutting in the 1990s

This article is adapted from the book "Outline of the U.S. Economy" by Conte and Carr and has been adapted with permission from the U.S. Department of State.