Editing Great Migration to Philadelphia (section)

== Work and Economy ==

Migrants found work in Philadelphia's diverse industrial economy, though discrimination limited their opportunities. During World War I and World War II, when labor was scarce, Black workers gained access to jobs in shipyards, arsenals, and factories that had previously excluded them. The Philadelphia Navy Yard, Baldwin Locomotive Works, and manufacturing plants throughout the city employed Black workers during wartime. After each war, however, Black workers often found themselves "last hired, first fired" as white workers returned from military service and competition for jobs intensified. The deindustrialization that affected Philadelphia from the mid-20th century onward would hit Black workers particularly hard.<ref name="trotter"/>

Women migrants often found work in domestic service—as housekeepers, cooks, and laundresses for white families—continuing patterns established in the South but under somewhat better conditions. The expanding service economy also provided opportunities in hotels, restaurants, and hospitals. Professional opportunities were limited by discrimination but not entirely absent; Black teachers staffed segregated schools, Black doctors and lawyers served the community, and a Black middle class developed that provided leadership for civil rights efforts. The economic diversity of the migrant community—from factory workers to professionals—created a complex social structure within Black Philadelphia.<ref name="wolfinger"/>