Black Men Need Better 'Soft Skills' to Compete in the Workplace
- Algernon Austin
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
Published March 6, 2026 at 7:45 AM EDT
Employers don't believe Black men are able to sustain positive contact with the public.
WASHINGTON, DC — According to sociologist William Julius Wilson, "employers are less likely to hire [Black males] because they are seen as unable to sustain positive contact with the public."
Wilson's research says employers believe that black males lack the soft skills that their jobs require: the tendency to maintain eye contact, the ability to carry on polite and friendly conversations with consumers, the inclination to smile and be responsive to consumer requests no matter how demanding or unreasonable they may seem. Consequently, black male job seekers face rising rates of rejection.
Wilson argues that the rise of the service sector and the decline of manufacturing has dramatically increased the need for soft skills, which Black males often lack.
This article by economics professor Algernon Austin, focuses on what he calls interactional soft skills, which is the ability “to have pleasant interactions with clients or customers and smooth, non-conflictual interactions with coworkers and supervisors.”
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