Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 6-2000 Public Policy: Affirmative Action, Social Equity, and Employment Patterns in Michigan's Construction Industry 1966-1997 Henry Joseph Bowers Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons Recommended Citation Bowers, Henry Joseph, "Public Policy: Affirmative Action, Social Equity, and Employment Patterns in Michigan's Construction Industry 1966-1997" (2000). Dissertations. 1438. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/1438 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PUBLIC POLICY: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, SOCIAL EQUITY, AND EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN MICHIGAN'S CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY 1966-1997 by Henry Joseph Bowers A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Public Administration School of Public Affairs and Administration Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan June 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PUBLIC POLICY: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, SOCIAL EQUITY, AND EMPLOYMENT PATTERNS IN MICHIGAN'S CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY 1966-1997 Henry Joseph Bowers, D P.A Western Michigan University, 2000 Affirmative action public policy did not experience much debate when it was put in place during the late 1960’s. However, the debate is occurring in the 1990s. Its merits are being weighed and there are movements locally to eliminate affirmative action policy. The Michigan construction industry is the focus of this study. This study examined not only these employment outcome benefits, but also outlines the outcome benefit trends over thirty-one years for national employment and employment in the state of Michigan with an emphasis on the construction industry. Details regarding white-collar and blue-collar occupational grouping trends as well as unemployment level trends are reviewed at the state of Michigan level. Eight interruption dates were initially identified for this study (1971, 1975, 1977, 1980,1989, 1991, 1992, and 1995), and a ninth interruption was added after initial analysis o f data for the year 1981. Employment data for the years 1968, 1972, 1974, 1976, and 1977 were not analyzed. A regression and time series were used to analyze the data for trends regarding employment at the national and state of Michigan percentage levels and the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. unemployment percentage level in Michigan for each protected group. A P-value of .05 or less was interpreted as being a significant interruption in the series. Analysis of the data indicated that each protected group equally shared the P-value of .05 percent or less and there was not significance as a result of affirmative action public policy in the employment of black protected groups compared with other protected groups over the time of this study. Qualitative data were collected through the secondary source of archival documents. Qualitative results support the findings of the quantitative results. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. 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Copyright by Henry Joseph Bowers 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank my dissertation committee members for their support and patience to complete my dissertation. I am most thankful for the commitment of Kathleen M. Reding, PhJD., Chairperson o f my dissertation committee for her continuing support as a professor in the D.P.A. program at Western Michigan University and especially for her guidance as well as direction and encouragement throughout my dissertation. Barbara Liggett, Ed.D., I thank for her continued support and more specifically, her emphasis of comprehensiveness for all protected groups regardless of participation level and right-to-work status of states for clarity of the construction industry of Michigan. Daniel Mihalko, Ph.D. I thank for his tireless direction, guidance, and assistance regarding data used within this dissertation. Attorney Janet C. Cooper, I thank for more than twenty-eight years of assistance to me regarding legal issues con­ cerning employment activities including guidance related to the legal issues pertinent to my dissertation. Professors Reding, Liggett, Mihalko, and Attorney Cooper, I thank you. Employees of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (current and former) have been most helpful with my dissertation. These individuals include: Ellen McCarthy, Jeff Jenks, Winifred Avery, Charles Rouls and Fred Gruber. Collectively, these individuals continuously provided valuable archival information, direction, and assistance to me for employment issues in my dissertation. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgments—continued Numerous friends and employees at Henry Ford Community College (HFCC) assisted and encouraged me with the completion of my dissertation. The list of these individuals include: Professor John W. Smith (Political Science), Professor Pamela Cervic (English), William Williamson (Librarian), Vivian Beaty (Director Instruc­ tional Technology) and staff Walter Mackey, n, Director of Mathematics, Henry Morgan (Director of Graphics) and staff. Special thanks to Daniel Buchanan (Mathe­ matician) for his tireless review of the data and computation. I thank Stacy Glinski for her creativity, commitment, management, and pro­ duction of this transcript to meet graduate school requirements. Last, but not least, the many individuals who provided encouragement over the years to pursue my dream. My thanks to my family is unqualified as their faith, support, and encourage­ ment for the pursuit of my education has been immeasurable. This dissertation is dedicated to my friend and wife, Cassandra Joan Willis Bowers; my daughter Krista Jenyne Bowers; the twins, Marion and Marcus Willis; Louise Burton Willis; my brother Calvin Bowers, Jr., and in memory of my parents Calvin and Rosa Lee Bowers. Henry Joseph Bowers iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGMENTS................................................................................................ii LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................xv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................1 Organization of Chapters .........................................................................I Definition of Terms: Social Equity Public Policy in America .................. 2 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................14 Era of Enforcing Affirmative Action Policies ...............................16 Purpose of the