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Minority workers tend to be disproportionately harmed by negative economic shocks.
Indeed, we show that Hispanic populations experienced worse employment losses due
to import competition from China, relative to whites, largely due to lower education
levels. In contrast, Black-white employment and wage gaps actually narrowed due
to relative growth in non-manufacturing sectors. We show that Black workers were
less attached to manufacturing by 2000, compared to whites, and were therefore more
poised to take advantage of China shock induced reallocation to services. The lasting
negative impacts of the China shock on exposed communities were primarily driven by
white workers.
