Black workers have been moving up the occupational scale in recent years, away from the labor and service occupations and toward white-collar, craftsmen, and operative jobs. In 1960, two in every five black workers were in white-collar, craftsmen, or operative occupations. By 1970, more than half were in such jobs. These occupations are less subject to unemployment and they are better paid. The change in the occupational distribution of black workers has had the effect of reducing their unemployment rate by three tenths of a percentage point and increasing earnings more than ten dollars a week. The charts presented in this document separate the black labor force into three occupational groups for analysis: The highest paid occupations, which include professional, technical, and managerial workers, whose usual earnings (median) for black men working full time were over 150 dollars a week in 1970; the middle pay levels, including clerical and sales workers, craftsmen and foremen whose usual earnings (median of black men working full time) were 100 to 150 dollars a week; and the lower paid occupations whose usual earnings (median of black men working full time) were 100 dollars a week or less. The charts suggest that lack of education has often been a barrier to employment in the higher paid occupations, whether required for performance of a job or not. (Author/JM)