A Survey-Based Analysis of Race and Manufacturing Branch Plant Location in the Nonmetropolitan South

Southeastern Geographer Vol. 30, No. 2, November 1990, pp. 79-93 A SURVEY-BASED ANALYSIS OF RACE AND MANUFACTURING BRANCH PLANT LOCATION IN THE NONMETROPOLITAN SOUTH* Merrill L. Johnson Proximity to low-cost labor historically has played an important role in southern industrial location, and for some time it was mainly low-cost white labor that counted. The textile industry, which came to epitomize southern industrial development, was especially guilty of racial discrimination , even though black workers often could be hired for lower wages than their white counterparts. Where black workers were hired, they normally performed tasks that white workers found demeaning or otherwise unappealing. These included the relatively arduous and distasteful work associated with food and tobacco processing, lumber milling, and paper manufacturing. (I) In South Carolina in 1950, for example, over 60% of the 30,000 furniture, lumber, and wood products workers were black. (2) By comparison, only 5% of the textile work force was black; and, if the situation in 1950 was the same as earlier, these workers were relegated to laboring tasks outside the mill. (3) Discriminatory hiring practices were accepted not only as a natural state of affairs within the southern industrial culture, but as a necessary part of industrial recruitment and economic development. Cobb noted that . . . prior to the mid-1960s development officials apparently felt a responsibility to provide expanded employment opportunities only for whites. When state promotional messages referred to a surplus of Anglo-Saxon labor, the assumption was clear that unemployment or underemployment of blacks was a natural condition and required no remedy. (4) Since the 1960s, progress has been made in breaking color barriers. Manufacturing has become an important source of employment for the black population in parts of the South, especially in the central Carolinas and Georgia. Census data indicate that the proportion of black workers in the manufacturing work force has increased substantially * I wish to thank the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, for support in acquiring the survey data. Dr. Johnson is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of New Orleans in New Orleans, LA 70148. 80Southeastern Geographer since 1960, with a 14-point improvement in South Carolina particularly noteworthy (Table 1). Much of this progress has occurred in rural areas, consistent with historic trends favoring rural industrialization in the South. (5) Some researchers, however, doubt that black employment in manufacturing has gone (or will go) beyond relatively low-wage and labor-intensive activities. Walker found that black labor areas have been getting their "fair share" of low-wage nondurable goods plants, but have fallen behind in terms of the higher-wage durable goods sector. (6) Till discovered a similar situation and observed that, while manufacturing jobs increasingly became available to black workers during the 1960s and 1970s, minority counties benefited less than predominantly white counties. (7) Colclough added, "Only those counties that are largely white seem to be gaining larger shares of high-wage industry, while the largely black counties appear to remain almost totally dependent on a low-wage manufacturing base. . . ." (8) While this pessimism may be justified, much still needs to be learned about the locational characteristics of manufacturers hiring minority work forces before final conclusions can be drawn. Of particular need are analyses using establishment-level data that can augment the county-based studies cited above. While of unquestioned value in setting the stage for further investigation, the data aggregation necessary in county-based studies may conceal as well as reveal important trends. The purpose of this study is to use plant-specific data collected in a recent survey of selected southern manufacturing activities to examine the structural and locational characteristics of manufacturing activities TABLE 1 BLACK WORKERS AS A PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL MANUFACTURING WORK FORCE FOR SELECTED SOUTHERN STATES Percentages by State YearN.C.S.C.Ga.Ala.Miss.La.Ark.Tenn. 1980* 20.7 28.4 24.1 22.3 34.8 27.6 15.1 11.4 1970 16.4 22.1 20.5 19.8 26.9 24.8 14.2 11.1 1960 11.4 14.7 16.7 19.4 23.3 23.9 14.2 8.7 * Employment totals for 1980 were computed...