Downsizing trounces diversity 1994.

The job market will never be the same, but some things never change. Namely, when corporate America cuts, black America bleeds most.

MORE OF THE SAME. THAT'S WHAT 1993 brought on the job front. More corporations resizing, rightsizing, downsizing. More workers laid off, bought out, shut out. More advice about retooling, cross-training, adapting to a corporate America that has gone through a fundamental evolution. Understand: Corporate America will never be the same. It's a different world.

To remain a vital part of it, blacks in particular will have to take an entrepreneurial approach to their careers (see "Reinvent Yourself!" this issue), choose industries wisely (see "Boom Careers For The Coming Years," this issue) and press their public servants to enforce the policies that protect their rights at work, as well as at home.

The need for increased effort on the latter front has taken on a new urgency, given real evidence that American business is not considering the same affirmative action and diversity issues it espouses in hiring and promoting when it moves to slash jobs. That truth, revealed in a study published last fall, didn't surprise most African-Americans, but it was still a tough pill to swallow. In light of all the other factors now hampering our success--lower hiring levels, increased global competition, retrenched benefits packages and flattening salaries--perhaps the most damaging blow is that blacks are being downsized at a higher rate than any other group.

To move forward, whatever your path, you will have to approach your job more seriously than ever before, seize any and every opportunity to hone new and existing skills and develop, nurture and utilize those networks.

The Year in Review

That American workers at all levels and in all industries suffered last year is not news. We gloomily watched as those telltale numbers kept rising across industries and regions. IBM, already down by more than 100,000 jobs, issued plans to drop perhaps 50,000 more; General Motors Corp. continued to chip away at its plan to close 21 plants (displacing more than 50,000 workers) by 1995; and, last July, consumer products maven Procter & Gamble started a four-year plan to nix 13,000 jobs and 30 plants.

The year ended the way it began. In October, the 114-year-old Woolworth Corp., which dosed 100 of its variety stores in 1992, announced plans to eliminate 13,000 jobs and another 970 stores. In December, Xerox Corp., a profitable company, laid out plans to cut 10,000 jobs over the next four years. And, before the holidays, USAir, Martin Marietta Corp., Cigna Corp., American Airlines and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., among others, all announced impending layoffs.

A survey of 870 companies conducted by the American Management Association in July found that, geographically, there was little change over 1992 in the number of companies per region reporting reductions. But workforce cuts were deeper across the board, with firms reporting an average 10.4% reduction in workforce, versus 9.3% in 1992. Once again, the West Coast was hardest hit, with 56.3% of companies reporting downsizing during the past year.

Not included in job-loss figures are the masses who exited corporate America through early retirement. It's a window that companies have thrown wide open, but the parachutes being handed out are growing less and less dependable. William Miner, a Chicago-based benefits specialist for The Wyatt Co., a corporate consultancy, says that in 1991, 28% of the nation's 50 largest industrial/service firms offered early retirement. Last year, that number hovered around 35%, and he sees the trend continuing at least through 1994.

Many people, dissatisfied with their jobs, view early retirement as a blessing. The problem? In addition to the fact that companies are pushing people harder to leave while offering less enticing incentives to do so, says Danbury, Conn.-based executive recruiter Wendell Johnson, post-retirement opportunities are increasingly bleak. Only 48% of unemployed workers age 55 and older can expect to find work, according to University of Massachusetts Gerontology Institute data. Of those who do get jobs, says Johnson, they will likely be lower-level and lower-paying.

The good news is that African-American unemployment, like that of other groups, logged a steady decline during the last two years, dropping from 14.2% in third quarter 1992 to 12.6% in the same quarter last year. The bad news is that black unemployment still exceeds that of other minorities and remains more than twice that of whites (5.9% in November 1993). That same basic gap has existed at least as far back as the Bureau of Labor Statistics can trace, which is to 1972.

Blacks Fared Worse Than Other Minorities

A Wall Street Journal study of 1990-91 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission figures found African-Americans to be the only group that suffered a net job loss during that period, while whites, Hispanics and Asians gained jobs--thousands of them.

The study, which canvassed 35,242 companies, held that black employment fell dramatically in 36 states and six of the nine major industries. Hardest hit were blue-collar job holders, service workers and those in sales. Among the most shocking revelations: At Sears Roebuck & Co., according to the Journal blacks lost 54.3% of jobs cut in 1991; Dial Corp., 43.6%; and Coca-Cola Enterprises, the bottling arm of Coca-Cola Co., 42.1%. Sears attributed its high numbers to an addition error, submitting revised records to the EEOC that show African-Americans losing a still distressing 20% of jobs cut.

Laura Brightwell, public affairs manager at Coca-Cola Enterprises, says that its numbers are due to a major downsizing in blue-collar areas in 1991. She notes that, in 1992, the company showed improved performance and sales under a new management that "placed important emphasis on the hiring and promotion of minorities. That year, 54% of new hires in the same territories [that had been downsized] were African-American." Call after call to other companies yielded similar explanations, but the Journal's overall findings remain undisputed.

The fact is, while some companies may have legitimate rationales, others have none. "I hear a lot of alibis as to why blacks suffered more in downsizing," says H.C. Smith, whose executive recruiting firm by the same name is based in Shaker Heights, Ohio. "Companies philosophically embrace diversity, but I'm seeing an awful lot of talented African-Americans get hard hit with the reality that companies are not as concerned with keeping them once they've been wooed."

White-collar Gains?

Billy R. Allen, CEO of Dallas-based Minority Search Inc., agrees. "In Dallas, I used to be able to put my hands on 25 black vice presidents at major companies. Today, they're gone--to other companies, to their own businesses, to early retirement." Furthermore, says Allen, "It's been harder and harder to place people in positions where they will be able to hire others like them."

Interestingly, the Journal's study cited some progress in white-collar categories (managerial, professional and technical jobs) but noted that African-Americans held such a meager percentage of those jobs prior to the recession that any gains are still negligible. In 1991, 5.7% of the nation's executive and managerial pool was African-American, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 1992, blacks represented 5.8% of that pool.

In a 1992 survey asking how members were being affected by restructuring, the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) found that, of 900 respondents, 24% believed their positions were being threatened by downsizing. Another 17% had already been laid off. Antoinette Malveax, NBMBAA's director of operations, notes the early success of the group's National Employment Network, a service linking potential candidates with registered job listings, as evidence that MBAs are hurting. Launched in May, 550--or 18% of the membership--used the service in its first six months.

Measuring Our Gains and Losses

Why are blacks bearing the brunt of corporate America's ax? For many, it's a redundant question. One reason, says Peter Cattan, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is the predominance of African-Americans in blue-collar jobs, which are being wiped out en masse. Another is that "many companies are still operating under a last hired, first fired pattern, which is firmly enforced by powerful labor unions," notes Kenneth P. DeMeuse, associate professor of management at the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, who adds, "On top of that, of course, there's discrimination."

No kidding. "It didn't take a study in The Wall Street Journal to let me know that African-Americans were being disproportionately affected by the emphasis on restructuring," says Earl S. Washington, president of the Executive Leadership Council, a Washington, D.C.-based group of senior-level black corporate executives. "That data reflected the manifestation of longtime neglect by federal government to pressure businesses to meet established [equal opportunily] goals."

What that means for council members is that, despite purported gains among higher ranking African-Americans in recent years, "We have the same problem we've always had," says Washington. "Once you look back over the shoulders of our most senior ranking members, there are not a lot of folks moving up to take their place. And, last year, that pipeline was thinned out even more."

According to the EEOC, blacks clearly fared better in the public sector, outpacing Hispanics and Asians. An analysis of 1991 civilian employment figures in the federal government showed African-Americans representing 17.9% of 2.7 million workers and 17.6% in state and local governments, compared with 13.2% representation in the private sector. Unfortunately, while corporate America will continue to fine-tune in coming years, the next rounds of "whole-house surgery are coming in government," says DeMeuse.

The Year Ahead

Despite the depressing statistics and further humiliations the numbers don't show, "the toughest period is over," says George C. Fraser, a Cleveland-based publisher of sourcebooks for black professionals. "In 1994, I see increased minority business start-ups, a leveling off of downsizing and less African-American job loss." In many ways, he adds, "This is the absolute best time for African-Americans to be in, or starting, a business because the talent pool is the best it's ever been. In recruiting new hires, you don't have to compete with the big boys so much anymore."

In fact, several career experts agree that the best move today may be an entrepreneurial one. This is particularly so for new college graduates and displaced older workers, says Fraser.

Being entrepreneurial doesn't always mean starting your own business. It could mean freelancing, working on contract--perhaps even for your ex-employer--or charting your own path through a number of temporary, but profitable, positions. Manpower Inc., a Milwaukee-based temporary services firm, has become the nation's largest employer by capitalizing on the growing need for such workers. The firm sent out 560,000 W2 forms in 1992; in 1993, that number topped 600,000. With an annual payroll of more than $10 billion, temporary help is now a major part of the labor market.

Based on the results of Manpower's latest Employment Outlook Survey, "We could be on the threshold of the brightest job outlook in four years," says President Mitchell S. Fromstein. Why? The strongest sectors this year are durable goods manufacturing and finance, "two key industries that often fuel follow-up activity in other sectors."

The Human Resources Forecast panel, a 10-member group convened by the University of California at Los Angeles's Institute of Industrial Relations, expects steady employment growth all year with an average unemployment rate of about 6.4%. The panel also predicts low wage gains of about 3.3%. The geographic trends of recent years will continue, as the South and Midwest offer the greatest opportunity for job seekers.

So, where exactly are the jobs? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they will continue to be where advanced skills are needed: in professional specialties, such as accounting and law; in technical specialties, such as computer sciences and engineering; in service occupations, such as health services. Construction, spurred by regional disasters over the last year, is on the upswing as well. If you're a displaced manager planning your employment future, take heart: White-collar unemployment rose 70% during the recession, but in the last year managers grabbed 37% of the net new jobs.

As for the future of diversity and affirmative action in corporate America, proponents of these measures insist that pressure on and from the Clinton Administration must be ongoing and intense. With a receptive administration finally in place and the North American Free Trade Agreement taking hold, now is the time to leverage our clout as professionals and as voters to ensure that the bloodletting does not continue and that the gains are not lost for good.

Even with that, says executive recruiter Wendell Johnson: "We cannot expect any revolutionary change in corporate America's attitudes toward black Americans. We're always going to have to do 150% to match everyone else's 80%, and when times are bad, we have to double our efforts again."