Via Colorlines I discovered an Applied Research Center report titled The Color of Food. The report found that Blacks, Latinos, and Asians were overrepresented in food service work:
The report also discovered a wage gap between White workers and non-White workers at every level of food production:
Race intersected with gender, such that women earned less than men of their same race for each group studied:
The authors go on to break down the data further by each part of the commodity food chain — production, processing, distribution and service — and by racial group. For example, they show that the average wage of Latinos and Asians differs by ethnic background (always a good reminder that racial categories obscure variability):
Lots more at The Color of Food.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 25
Theo — March 13, 2011
"The report found that Blacks, Latinos, and Asians were overrepresented in food service work"
The chart beneath this sentence shows Blacks as being underrepresented in the food service industry.
T — March 13, 2011
And for the SECOND chart... these are not "levels" of production. The source of this post, Colorlines, used the correct description --
"This wage gap plays out in all four sectors of the food system—production, processing, distribution and service..."
In fact, the precise thing that is MISSING from Colorlines analysis is the issue of "levels." i.e., the distribution of labor between management and line worker is not explored in detail. Is there a disparity of wages for apples-to-apples jobs?
Antone — March 13, 2011
Bow to Japan!
. — March 13, 2011
people of color = latinos, blacks and asians?
Oldarney — March 13, 2011
This totally ignores education. Which is an important aspect. I am not white.
Poopster — March 14, 2011
Why do asian women earn more than white or black women?
Hmmmm.
Waiting Room Reading 3/17 « Welcome to the Doctor's Office — March 21, 2011
[...] THE COLOR OF FOOD: PRODUCTION, PROCESSING, DISTRIBUTION, AND SERVICE [...]
Azeria — May 25, 2011
As a biracial woman working as a restaurant manager with 6 years of culinary experience and a degree from the CIA... i still make a lousy salary. I make about as much as a Grocery store cashier will make in a year on wages.
But I also understand how the restaurant industry works, there just isn't enough money in selling food to pay people anything worth making. No matter who you are or what you look like, I'm going to try and pay you as little as possible so I can keep the restaurant running.
For once, this isn't racism, it's capitalism. What looks like racism is when a majority of applicants and hires are "non-whites". With turnover in your average restaurant is over 100% per year, you have hire nearly anyone who applies.
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