“Soft” Skills and Race: An Investigation of Black Men’s Employment Problems
Author(s)
Moss, Philip; Tilly, Chris
Abstract
Compared to young white men, young black men earn a lower hourly wage and have a higher rate of unemployment. These gaps were closing until the mid-1970s, but subsequently began to widen again. Among several other factors associated with these trends are changing skill needs, especially a growing requirement for “soft” or social skills. Defining soft skills as “skills, abilities, and traits that pertain to personality, attitude and behavior rather than to formal or technical knowledge”, in 1991 and 1992 the authors conducted 56 face-to-face interviews with employers in four industries in the Detroit and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. The interviews focused on hiring practices relating to entry-level jobs requiring no more than a high school degree. The goal was to investigate how and why employers formed negative assessments of the soft skills of black men and why employers sought increased levels of soft skills in entry level jobs.
