More of us are working: but gains are threatened by courts and anti-affirmative action initiatives.

Black unemployment fell below 10% recently for the first time in 20 years. But this gain was viewed skeptically by many blacks who saw it juxtaposed against the anti-affirmative action referendum pending in California and the Supreme Court's reviewing of federally enforced minority and female set-aside programs.

In December 1994, black unemployment was 9.8%. This low figure represented actual (though slight) gains in terms of the total numbers employed and the proportion of the black population with jobs. But one month is hardly a sea change. Black workers still lag behind whites in overall income and are more than twice as likely as whites to be unemployed.

Two recent Census Bureau reports offer insight into the absolute and relative positions of blacks. The findings simultaneously enlighten and puzzle. The data show short-term modest gains. More black workers were employed at year-end 1994 than previously, and the proportion of blacks with jobs showed gains. Just under 57% of the black population (age 16 and over) held jobs in December, up from 52% in 1980 and roughly equal to the 1990 share.

Over the last 25 years, black workers' earnings have improved relative to white workers'. These gains are more substantial for black women than for black men. In 1969, black women made 75 cents for every dollar that white women earned; black men made 61 cents for every dollar white men earned. By 1993, those figures had climbed to 89 cents and 71 cents, respectively.

Black women still earn less than black or white men, but that may be due more to gender bias than racial bias.

The fact that black men have not bridged the earnings gap more seems indicative of ongoing labor market racism. Affirmative action improved opportunity, but it did not create equality. Black men lag behind even after adjusting for education and occupation. In 1993, black male college graduates earned 76 cents for every dollar that white male college graduates earned. And black male high school graduates earned 72 cents for every dollar their white counterparts earned.

The fear of "reverse discrimination" is what drives the move to abolish affirmative action. While individual cases may seem to suggest the contrary; the evidence for widespread reverse discrimination is weak or nonexistent. Black men made only modest gains relative to whites. But access to higher education and an array of occupations, through equal opportunity programs, did result in absolute gains for black workers.