A sobering new report highlights the disparities between job attachment, turnover and wage disparity between African Americans and whites in Baltimore City and the region. Commissioned by the Associated Black Charities (ABC), the Jacob France Institute examined employment patterns by race. The resulting report is an effort to understand the “employment landscape” as a foundation for creating a strategy to address “the systemic and institutional barriers that continue to keep people of color locked out of opportunities.” As I’ve written before, we’re all in the same boat. Research highlights that those regions which succeed in reducing racial economic disparity outperform regions which do not. Not only is tackling this disparity the right thing to do, it’s in everyone’s self-interest.

As Diane Bell-McKoy, CEO of ABC, concludes in her overview of the study’s findings, “[t]his chronic attachment to low-wage / low-skill jobs not only hurts the individuals but it also hurts the larger economy, and perpetuates the cycle of poverty that exists in communities of color.” Her charge to us couldn’t be clearer. “[T]he time is now to make real change needed for our own economic viability as a City.”

Here are some key findings from the Jacob France study:

• African American employment is concentrated in four lower wage industries and occupations (retail, transportation and warehousing, health care and social assistance, and administrative support and waste management)
• Racial wage disparities exist across nearly every industry, with average earnings “well below” their white counterparts
• African American workers experienced higher job turnover overall and across industries
• Many industries with higher concentrations of African American workers are expected to experience slower growth
• African American employment is underrepresented in industries with middle to high skills and mid to high earning potential
• High wage professional and technical services drive the Baltimore region’s growth, though with low concentration of African American participation

These summary findings are supported by detailed analysis in the report I’ve linked to.

What more light is needed on the issue of the impact of economic disparity on Baltimore? Tackling systemic issues impacting our workforce ecosystem is more daunting and less sexy than chasing the next corporate relocation opportunity. As I have suggested before, those regions which are figuring out how to close the wage gap are outperforming those which don’t. Underscored by the Associated Black Charities’ report, this is Baltimore’s real economic development opportunity:to outperform peer regions by realizing the fullest potential of all of its citizens.

With more than 30 years’ experience in law and business, Newt Fowler, a partner in Womble Bond Dickinson’s business practice, advises many investors, entrepreneurs and technology companies, guiding them through all aspects of business planning, financing transactions, technology commercialization and M&A. He’s the past board chair of TEDCO and serves on the Board of the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore. Newt can be reached at newt.fowler@wbd-us.com.