Although the Great Recession ended in 2009 the number of unemployed is still very high. As many of you know, there are many different metrics for measuring unemployment the most popular of which says that the US has currently a 7.9% unemployment rate. That is estimated to be over 10 million people. To understand the significance of the above numbers one must keep in mind that the labour force in the US is currently estimated to grow at over 1 million every year i.e about 100,000 new jobs a year. At the present rate of creating 150,000 then it would take a long long time to make significant cuts into that reserve of unemployed. Sadly the African American population carries an unemployment burden that is far larger than its proportion in the population.
Scholars sketch bleak economic picture for black Americans
By Michael A. Fletcher,
Scholars gathered for the African American Economic Summit at Howard University on Friday sketched an alarming picture of the financial ills afflicting the black community even as the nation recovers from the recession.The white-black wealth disparity is more than 20 to 1. Black homeownership has declined. Black joblessness is up. Black income is down.
As the conferees gathered, the government released new figures showing the black unemployment rate at 13.8 percent, nearly double the 7.0 percent for whites. The overall jobless rate is 7.9 percent.
As bleak as the economic picture is for black Americans, the immediate prospects for improving it are worse, many participants said. They agreed that chances are remote for the kind of aggressive, targeted action needed to combat those problems and close the economic disparities that have long separated blacks and whites.
“We are basically talking about an economic system that is shot through with discrimination,” said Bernard E. Anderson, a former assistant secretary of labor.
Despite that, Anderson and others said, President Obama seems reluctant to attack economic disparities between blacks and whites head-on.
Anderson said that Obama’s second inaugural address was notable for lifting up gay rights, sounding the call for immigration reform and signaling his determination for women to receive equal pay in the workplace. “But there was not a single, blessed word on race,” he said.
Anderson said that he has met with Obama’s economic advisers in years past, but did not get the sense that they were interested in any racially targeted economic remedies. “He does not want to be labeled a president who is consumed by racial inequality in this country,” Anderson said.
Others at the conference said that Obama took office during the worst downturn since the Great Depression and had his hands full forging policies to keep the economy from a full meltdown.
Meanwhile, administration officials have pointed out that the president’s policies have led to 35 consecutive months of private-sector job growth and more than 6 million new jobs. They also note that the president’s work to expand Pell Grants and extend the earned-income and child tax credits have helped millions of African Americans.
Nonetheless, conferees said that more needs to be done to close the racial disparities that have long been a feature of the nation’s economic life.
During the depths of the crisis, Obama often said he wanted to build a better, more durable economy in the recovery. Conference participants said they are challenging him to live up to his word.
“We would all like to see him pursue that course,” said Ralph B. Everette, president and chief executive of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which co-sponsored the event.
Several scholars offered far-reaching, if politically unlikely, policy prescriptions.
Duke University professor William A. Darity Jr. said policymakers should pursue a large-scale public jobs program to dramatically lower unemployment. Darrick Hamilton, an economist at the New School, said the government should divert some of the money used to fund the income-tax deduction for mortgage interest to fund “baby bonds” that would provide $15,000 for disadvantaged newborns of any race to invest later in higher education, a business or a home.
The remedies need to be bold because “racial disparities are persistent and they are ubiquitous,” said Enrique A. Lopezlira, a lecturer at Howard. “It is hard to explain in a context that does not include some sort of institutional racism going on.”
16 comments:
We are not leaving in 1960’s where people were discriminated against. This is not the issue anymore. We have equal opportunity employers so we should not bring the issue of the race to the table. If we are talking about unemployment rate, we all know that unemployment rate is far greater than 7.9%. What’s more, we all know that the system that measures unemployment rate is broken. Counting part-time workers as fully employed is ridicules. People can’t even support themselves of whatever they make working part time. Having said that most likely unemployment rate hovers around 14%-16%. What about those that dropped off the labor force? What about illegal immigrants that are not counted in all of those surveys? The system is not effective and should be changed.
In terms of the race, I’m going to argue that the color of your skin does not play a significant role today. What counts are your abilities to preform the job, the skill set you have and education. Most of the people that are unemployed today are those that do not have college education or necessary skills to preform the job. Finally the idea of so called “baby bonds” is taken to the new extreme. Government is already helping students. People should motivate themselves to get to work and study hard. We want less government in our lives not more!
there may be a difference between employment rates between blacks and whites but the cause is not job discrimination. i believe that major disparity between whites and blacks has been left in the past. Yes race may play a role in some things today but it is not the major cause between the unemployment rates between blacks and whites. Skill set and ability is how people are hired nowadays, not skin color.
I seem to agree with the previous two comments, race no longer seems to be an issue in our progressive society. The facts are clearly presented and they clearly depict that black Americans are in a worse economic situation than whites. On that note, I believe this is a product of nearly two centuries of racism. I believe the modern answer is to focus on the economy as a whole, and conditions will improve for all citizens regardless of their skin color. Duke University professor William A. Darity Jr. suggested a large scale public jobs program which to me sounds similar to an aspect of FDR's New Deal. This could be a great idea to create hundreds of thousands of jobs while at the same time improving the infrastructure of our country
I believe that although it is a hard pill to swallow, race can still be a barrier in the corporate world. Not only do the statistics show this to be true but so do many peoples everyday experiences. Unemployment rates speak for themselves on this issue and it is up to us as the young community to change this. Education should clearly count for more then the color of our skin and we are slowly making this change.
I believe that job placement is based off of skill set and unfortunately many people in the country have not had the opportunity to enhance their skills by going to college because of financial reasons. I feel that something like the suggestion of a large scale public job program would help motivate people, in and out of the workforce; resulting in lower unemployment for the country as a whole. Motivation and hard work, as someone mentioned above, is key.
I tend to agree with all the comments of everyone who state that we are not in the 1960's period as discrimination may no longer seem like that big of a deal anymore. But seemly as the facts are shown people are either blind to the fact or just utterly ignorant in noticing that there's still racial segregation just by looking at the black to white unemployment rate which is that of 13.8 to that of 7.9 which shows the blacks are currently in a downward scaling motion. Black people tend to lack the incentive to go out and learn the proper skills it requires to put themselves into the workforce today touching on a fact that they may not have had the proper parental guidance as someone of another race. But importantly I think the government should take into consideration is the an option in which, Darrick Hamilton an economist at New School stated “the government should divert some of the money used to fund the income-tax deduction for mortgage interest to fund “baby bonds” that would provide $15,000 for disadvantaged newborns of any race to invest later in higher education, a business or a home”
Although the statistics shown seem to suggest that the unemployment of blacks is far greater than that of whites, I do not believe race plays a significant role in the success of an employee in today's economy. Nowadays we have managed to abandon most of the racism and discrimination that has captivated our nation in the past. I feel that skin color has little to no affect on someone's success nowadays. In addition, I feel that though it is not completely nonexistent, racism can only affect a worker if they have biased or narrow-minded employers. All in all, a person's success is based on how much effort, education, and skill they have to offer in whichever field they choose.
Although I agree that America is not the same as it was in the 1960's, I think it is a little unrealistic to say that our society is completely progressive and that race is no longer an issue. I don't believe that the situation is as drasitic as it was 50 years ago but discrimination does still occur occasionally. Having said that, I dont believe that race is the cause for the wealth disparity between blacks and whites. Also, I don't think that the solution is to take money from other areas of the government to fund such programs as the one suggested by economist Darrick Hamilton. I think the ultimate issue is our education system. We should be better preparing the students in this country to enter the workforce. A high school diploma doens't have the same value as it did years ago. Without a college degree it's difficult to earn a decent living in this country.
As far as Job Discrimination goes, I believe this still occurs. It is not the major factor as to why we have such a high employment rate, but it does play into it. As time progresses and Obama carries on through office, statistics show he has created more jobs. It states that unemployment rates for African Americans are double the rates than those of caucasian decent. No matter how long it has been since the freedom of the slaves, there will always be racism. Some jobs would rather employ the African Americans over the caucasians and vise versa.
"The black unemployment rate at 13.8", that sentence alone is scary. We are in an age where every company says that they are an equal employer they will not consider your race when you are being interviewed. But it does help a lot in your favor to be a certain race.
Looking at the Black/African American numbers on the Bureau of Labor Statistics site the highest unemployment rate is 37.8 for Black/African American females and males between the ages of 16-19. The highest for all the races in that age group. This affects greatly the overall unemployment rate for blacks.
There is something to think about the young adults, our peers who are not in the workforce. Where are the jobs for them? Why can't they find a job?
I think it goes way beyond racism and companies preferring a certain race.
I agree that race has nothing to do with the unemployment rate between blacks and whites. It may have played a role a long time ago, but things are different now. Everyone has the equal opportunity to obtain the same job. It all depends on the skills and experiences that you learn as you grow up.
I believe there is discrimination today but not in getting or maintaining a job. The first thing the employer sees is the resume and the person's qualifications. Those qualifications will get that person the job, not their race. Also, the employer cannot fire someone just because of their race.
I believe the reason for the high unemployment rate for backs is the lack of a college education.
I believe that discrimination in the work place by race is ridiculous. The best candidates will get the jobs now a day. Companies and businesses are looking for the best people to fill their spots so they can help enhance their business. Mostly everyone has a chance for a quality education and the employers see a resume before they see the candidate.
I do not believe that there is still job discrimination by race, it is outrageous. In today's society it doesn't matter what race you are, if you are the best candidate for the job, you get it. Owners to companies could care less about what ethnicity an employee is, as long as they're working hard and making the company money they will get and keep a job. As well as this everyone, for the most part, has a pretty equal chance to get a good education so there is nothing to be said about that. For some jobs, such as the NYPD and FDNY test, minorities receive bonus points.
I do not believe that there is discrimination in the work place. Now a days the best candidates are the ones getting the jobs. You see many more African Americans getting high end jobs, along with females. In todays world, everyone no matter of race or gender everyone is able to get a great education which puts them in contention for that high end job they are seeking.
No, I do not think that race plays a role in getting jobs. Whoever has had a better education or background in the field in which they are applying will get the job. If John went to Harvard and graduated with honors and applies for a job in the field in which he studied he will more likely obtain that job over Jack who went to a state school and did ok in his studies and has a little experience in the field. You have to work for something if you want it, it can’t and shouldn’t because you feel entitled.
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