The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its unemployment data for the month of May. The unemployment rate for the African American community went up from 16.1 percent to 16.2 percent. Black males, who already had the highest unemployment rate of any ethnic/gender category, saw their joblessness rise from an astounding 17 percent last month to 17.5 percent this month.
While white unemployment has declined since May of last year (8.5 percent to 8.0 percent), black unemployment has risen (15.3 percent to 16.2 percent). Black teenagers also saw their unemployment rate rise over the last year (38.4 percent to 40.7 percent). White teens, on the other hand, had a sharp decline in their unemployment rate (25.1 percent to 20.7 percent).
These astonishing numbers take us back to the statement made two years ago by President Barack Obama with regard to black unemployment. When journalist April Ryan did a wonderful job of pushing the black unemployment issue to the president, the baffling talking point of the Obama Administration was that “the rising tide will lift all boats,” implying that engaging in policy for the entire country would magically heal the effects of racial inequality in the job market. The translation was: “Sure black people gave us 18 percent of our votes, but you don’t deserve more than two percent of our time.”
The problem for the Obama Administration is that the “rising tide” logic might make sense on water, but it doesn’t add up in the real world. In fact, it sounds an awful lot like Trickle Down Economics, endorsed by the Reagan Administration nearly 30 years go. Economic trickles don’t work between the rich and the poor and they certainly don’t work on matters of race. This truth has been established repeatedly with the worsening unemployment numbers we keep seeing every single month.
First, there’s the bitter debate taking place on Capitol Hill over raising the nation’s debt ceiling and reducing its deficit. In addition to having a damaging effect on the country’s credit rating, Cleaver warned, the partisan fight is weakening the overall desire of employers to fill vacant positions or create new jobs.
“There also are some sociological reasons. When you graduate from Prairie View, where I attended college, and you’re competing for a job with somebody who graduated from Harvard, they’re going to give the job to the Harvard guy, even though the guy from Prairie View may be more competent,” Cleaver said.
In addition, he noted, discrimination continues to play a role in persistent Black unemployment, despite the fact that many people would choose to deny it.
“One of the worst things that’s happening in America right now is that sane people with IQs above 100 are denying that discrimination is still a factor in American life,” he said. “Even when you compare African-American college graduates with non-African-American college graduates, the African-Americans still have a higher unemployment rate. I don’t know how you camouflage that.“
Still, Cleaver noted, Blacks also need to be mindful of how important education is in improving one’s job prospects, and lamented the high high-school dropout rate among African-Americans. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis also cited lack of education as one of the primary factors driving up Black unemployment rates and said that her department will release a report next week that supports the premise.
“What’s so important is that if people have better skills, more education and training, the likelihood of them getting employed is at a much higher rate,” she said. “So achievement in terms of access to higher education and being able to get certificates in different job categories is still the bottom line for the African-American community.
No comments:
Post a Comment