AP analysis: Blacks largely left out among high-paying jobs

BOSTON — Fifty years after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, black Americans are still struggling to gain a foothold in the nation’s more prestigious and lucrative professions.

That’s according to an Associated Press analysis of government data that found black workers are chronically underrepresented compared with whites in technology, business, life sciences, and engineering, among other occupations. Meanwhile, black are proportionately overrepresented in lower-wage fields, such as food service and maintenance.

In Boston — a hub for technology and innovation — white workers outnumber black ones by about 27-to-1 in computer- and mathematics-related professions, compared with the overall ratio of 9.5-to-1 for workers in the city. King earned his doctorate in Boston in the 1950s.

Experts cite numerous causes, including lack of educational opportunities and systemic discrimination in hiring and promotions.