So much of America’s progress would not have been possible without the transformational work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, the Center for Economic Inclusion recognizes Dr. King’s work to more equitably pay workers in the service sectors.
During a Local 1199 Salute to Freedom in March of 1968, Dr. King declared:
“We look around every day and we see thousands and millions of people making inadequate wages. Not only do they work in our hospitals, they work in our hotels, they work in our laundries, they work in domestic service, they find themselves underemployed. You see, no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages. People are always talking about menial labor. But if you're getting a good (wage) as I know that through some unions, they've brought it up...that isn't menial labor. What makes it menial is the income, the wages.”
Local 1199 was a New York union consisting largely of African Americans, Puerto Ricans and other people of color, an anomaly among many unions even in 2024. Dr. King called on labor leaders to ensure their support and protection extended to people of all races.
Yet labor alone cannot ensure that the wages paid in service and direct care sectors are equitable. Policymakers and business leaders must make the systemic changes needed to ensure employers and employees of all races share in this nation’s wealth. The Center for Economic Inclusion continues to pursue Dr. King’s campaign for economic equity.
Shortly after Dr. King’s assassination the United States had only a handful of billionaires. Today according to Fortune magazine, we’re creating centibillionaires – people with more than $100 billion in wealth. According to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances latest report, while median wealth grew to $51,800 through the pandemic through 2019-2022, the wealth gap between Black and White Americans also grew by $49,950. The reports show the gaps reached levels not experienced since 2007, meaning that for every $100 in wealth held by White Americans, Black Americans held only $15. Despite being such a wealthy nation, the people who keep our economy functioning, caring for the sick, maintaining our factories, and clean businesses are forced to work two or three jobs to make ends meet.
Society labels them – with no sense of irony – the “working poor.” But that title assumes it’s a condition. What title do we give people with the capacity to pay fair and equitable wages who choose not to? Consider the workforce in Minnesota where 85% of the direct care workforce is female, and 36% are people of color. Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Minnesotans are the least likely to earn a family sustaining wage, with only four out of ten Black, Hispanic and Indigenous workers in prime working age (25-54-years old) earning the hourly wage necessary to sustain a family.
And Policy Matters Ohio found that employers have cut wages for Black men by nearly $5 per hour since 1979. Black men were paid 91 cents on the dollar compared with their white male counterparts in 1979, a shortfall of $2.25 per hour. By 2021 that fell to 74 cents on the dollar, a shortfall of $6.08, below wages that fell by a smaller rate for white men too. These persistent and growing gaps must be addressed by employers who have the power to ensure that every employee is working in a job that pays family sustaining wages.
The systems designed to concentrate wealth for White Americans, and extract work from Indigenous, Black and other people of color built a country of haves and have nots, it also built a country of division, hate, and exacerbated pain. We must build a new system that is purposefully racially equitable, inclusive and just. And we must build it together, now.
The Center for Economic Inclusion will continue to follow Dr. King’s clarion calls to build just and equitable organizations, create cultures of accountability with businesses and government agencies working alongside the people who have built the fabric of this country, and to celebrate our wins boldly.
Today as you honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Do so with action. Let your study of history illuminate the actions you take to build new, racially inclusive and just workplaces and systems for freedom, economic mobility and power. Join us on a journey to reckon with America’s history of slavery, segregation, lynching Jim Crow, and mass incarceration, the role each sector has played in maintaining separate but equal throughout history, and the actions we must take to build new, just systems today. ask you to join us this year with action, deepening your understanding of our nation’s history and the role of business in the past, and the future by participating in our programs.
the “Leading Onward” breakfast sponsored by General Mills, UNCF and Best Buy.
Two Brooklyns, One Vision, a racial healing series that culminates on Jan. 16.
In Solidarity & With Action,
~ Team CEI