Monday, July 05, 2010
Black Women Get Good News about Unemployment Again
By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Jul 4th 2010
Black women have some reason to celebrate amid the dismal employment numbers in our economy. In June, the black female unemployment rate dropped for the second straight month, from 12.4 percent to 11.8 percent. This is, once again, the largest unemployment drop among any ethnic/gender group in America.
Black men, on the other hand, have almost nothing to celebrate about this month's data. The unemployment rate for African American males jumped again, from 17.1 percent to 17.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
White Americans saw their unemployment rate rise slightly from 8.8 to 8.9 percent, significantly less than black female unemployment, and less than half the unemployment rate for African American males.
I spent this week doing a tour through the country of Belize, in Central America. While I was there, the tour guide informed me that she and most of her friends earn a wage of $1.50 per hour, and that most people hold onto whatever job they can find. The labor market is almost completely non-existent, and the idea of 8.9 percent unemployment would be a dream come true.
The fact that the rest of the world struggles far more than we do in the U.S. reminds us of just how blessed and privileged we are. All the while, the consistent cries from those who are concerned about 8.9 percent unemployment should provide context to the fact that over 17.4 percent of all black males cannot find a job. These numbers are further exacerbated by the hundreds of thousands of Americans who've stopped looking for work and are not counted among the nation's unemployed.
The fact that our nation has a black male president and black male attorney general who've never put this issue on the table is a strong reminder that the objectives of black men from Harvard and Yale might be very different from the rest of us. While we all hope that Barack Obama and Eric Holder get to keep their jobs, we must find a way to keep jobs for the millions of other black men who are not in the national spotlight.
Black teen unemployment jumped by nearly two percent, from 38 percent last month to 39.9 percent this month, which is alarming. The lack of teen jobs has a seriously detrimental effect on the African American community, where teen violence continues to be a major problem.
Congress should pass jobs programs for urban areas across America to create opportunities for both young people and their parents. Additionally, the greatest Achilles heel to both the Obama Administration and this Congress is the lack of targeted programs to help areas that have been hit the hardest by this recession.
I sometimes quietly wonder if President Hillary Clinton could have addressed this issue without having to worry about crippling racial stigmas. I guess we'll never know.
Source: Black Voices