Moving Goods, Marginalizing Workers: Racialized Labor and Logistics‐Led Growth in Chicago's Freight Economy

ABSTRACT

Transportation, distribution, and logistics have become central to the contemporary organization of capitalism in the United States amid the long‐term decline of manufacturing employment. In freight‐intensive metropolitan regions, logistics has emerged as a major site of job growth, raising questions about how this expansion reshapes racial inequality in urban labor markets. This paper examines employment and wage patterns in the Chicago metropolitan area, North America's largest inland freight hub. Drawing on IPUMS microdata from the 1990 Census and 2008–2012 and 2018–2022 American Community Survey samples, the analysis traces changes in employment and median wages across railroads, trucking, and warehousing. The findings show that logistics growth has been accompanied by increasing Black and Latino employment, whereas persistent racial wage gaps remain across sub‐industries. Interpreted through racial capitalism, these patterns demonstrate how logistics restructuring has unfolded through an already segmented metropolitan labor market, with increased racialized incorporation occurring without corresponding wage convergence.