Pervasive racial and ethnic disparities in the U.S. petrochemical workforce

IF 6.6 2区经济学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Ecological Economics Pub Date : 2025-04-09 DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108623

Kimberly Terrell , Gianna St. Julien , Michael Ash

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The burden of petrochemical pollution on communities of Color is well established, but the corresponding distribution of economic benefits is unclear. We evaluated employment equity in chemical manufacturing (NAICS 325) and petroleum/coal products manufacturing (NAICS 324) among U.S. states and core-based statistical areas (CBSAs) relative to racial education gaps, using data from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Census Bureau. As a case study, we also examined local-level employment disparities and industrial tax incentives in Louisiana. People of Color were consistently underrepresented among the highest-paying jobs and overrepresented among the lowest-paying jobs in both subsectors. Disparities persisted on a local scale, including in Louisiana parishes providing large tax subsidies for job creation. For both subsectors, the strongest predictor of disparities in better-paying jobs was population diversity. Education gaps were not significantly correlated with observed disparities in either subsector. Collectively, our findings reveal systemic inequality in the United States' petrochemical workforce. The observed disparities appear to reflect institutional racism and are not solely due to the racial education gap, as some have suggested. Regulators should consider that current approaches to industrial permitting, which typically ignore the distribution of economic benefits, are likely to perpetuate this pattern of racial injustice.

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来源期刊

Ecological Economics 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

5.70%

发文量

313

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： Ecological Economics is concerned with extending and integrating the understanding of the interfaces and interplay between "nature''s household" (ecosystems) and "humanity''s household" (the economy). Ecological economics is an interdisciplinary field defined by a set of concrete problems or challenges related to governing economic activity in a way that promotes human well-being, sustainability, and justice. The journal thus emphasizes critical work that draws on and integrates elements of ecological science, economics, and the analysis of values, behaviors, cultural practices, institutional structures, and societal dynamics. The journal is transdisciplinary in spirit and methodologically open, drawing on the insights offered by a variety of intellectual traditions, and appealing to a diverse readership. Specific research areas covered include: valuation of natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales from local to regional to global, implications of thermodynamics for economics and ecology, renewable resource management and conservation, critical assessments of the basic assumptions underlying current economic and ecological paradigms and the implications of alternative assumptions, economic and ecological consequences of genetically engineered organisms, and gene pool inventory and management, alternative principles for valuing natural wealth, integrating natural resources and environmental services into national income and wealth accounts, methods of implementing efficient environmental policies, case studies of economic-ecologic conflict or harmony, etc. New issues in this area are rapidly emerging and will find a ready forum in Ecological Economics.