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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1979)
Portland Observer Section II Thursday. February 15.1979 Page 5 (hat many Black youths arc deprived o f essential and encouraging work experience. L ittle wonder that many o f these youths eventually develop a lack o f com m it ment to the labor market. Many policy-makers are accustomed to thinking o f summer work problems as the solution. But the jo b problem o f the Black teenager is a year-round concern. Even during the winter their unemployment rates are high. The current public service employment program is no solution to the problem o f chronic teenage unem ployment since it favors adults and is geared to the em ployment o f a very small p roportion o f the unemployed. The fact is, most Black teenagers ought to be in school rather than in the labor market. Sadly, many who arc out o f school are caught in the midst o f a cruel circle: Their parents need their work efforts, schools are often unattractive, and the labor market insists on doing w ithout them. Clearly, one o f o u r agendas must be to break this circle; f o r to ignore the teenage problem is to ignore the fu tu re generation o f Blacks. It is only during periods o f high employment that Blacks, women, teenagers and the unskilled have done relatively well. Their employment and wages have risen faster than those o f skilled workers in such periods and d is c rim in a tio n on the part o f employers is relaxed because they fin d it too costly to forego p ro fits by discrim inating against such workers or by putting un realistic demands on the kinds o f skills they require. H igh employment also means greater jo b security and therefore there is less resistance on the part o f the white w orker to increased jo b opportunities fo r others. longer found it profitable to train Blacks because many o f them could no longer be used as cheap and inden tured labor. The legacy o f this exclusion is still w ith us. Today, a disproportionate number o f Blacks, most o f whom are unskilled, are still trapped in the lowest paying jobs at the bottom o f the economic ladder. In the days o f slavery, most were in agriculture, domestic w ork, or doing just pure hard physical work as unskilled labor. But over the years, Blacks have shown a steady exodus out o f agriculture. This is p rim a rily the conse quence o f the declining importance o f agriculture as a source o f employment, and the decreased demand fo r physical labor in farm ing. The decline o f agriculture sent Blacks rushing in to the cities only to be met by high unemployment during the Depression, and intense com petition by whites — all o f which stymied the progress Blacks were making in en tering non-farm employment. A ctua lly, the number o f Blacks in m anufacturing fell during the Depression, and many traditional Black jobs — even the really menial ones — were taken over by unemployed whites. A recovery was made in the progress o f Blacks during the Second W orld W ar and during the Korean W ar. But the real hope fo r sustained Black progress has occurred since I960, particularly during the mid-60s. Blacks could take great pride in the advances made during this period as they moved o ut o f the worse Shared Work TAKE ADVANTAGE . . Fresh meaning would be added to Am erica's past i f the nation were in the midst o f high employment. But the fact is that the nation is not. Because unemployment poses a disproportionately large burden fo r Blacks, a number o f civil rights leaders have suggested methods to reduce this burden. One suggestion, which has earned support in the civil rights com m unity, is that o f shared work. The basic concept is one which would distribute the burden o f unemployment across racial groups in a way which w ould drastically reduce the disproportionate burden which Blacks carry. A t least one idea would have workers reduce their work week and be compen sated fo r that loss o f a day through unemployment compensation, which is not taxable. When this is match ed by savings such as lunch and transportation costs, the actual loss o f earnings by the w orker who gives up one day so the jo b o f his partner is saved is significantly reduced. Moreover, he gets a day o ff. Unions are split on this issue. Over the past several years a number o f federally- funded jo b training programs such as the Job Corps, the M anpower Development and T ra inin g A ct, and others have been initiated to aid the disadvantaged worker. A large number o f Blacks have been enrolled and as remedial and compensatory e fforts, they un doubtedly have made w orth w h ile contributions. But Blacks must think beyond these programs as they w ill not solve the more d iffic u lt long-range problem o f higher incomes and better jobs fo r the m a jo rity o f the Black population. Essential short-range e fforts, which these programs are, must be separated fro m essential long-range efforts o f producing more skilled workers and a less hostile economic environment. Unless this is done. Blacks w ill continue to be the m ajor clients o f such remedial ef forts. Over the long haul, i f Blacks are to share equitably in the Am erican jo b m arket, there must be a national policy fo r fu ll employment which w ill guarantee a job fo r everyone w illing and able to work. Upward Mobility A lth o u g h most Blacks were slaves o f dom estic w o rk e rs d u rin g the days o f sla ve ry, there were numerous Black artisans - - some free and some slave. They were carpenters, masons, painters and the like. Not surprisingly these artisans were competitors to the skilled white male — both in the N orth and in the South. It is estimated that in IS65, there were five Black mechanics lo r every white. This com petition was weakened by laws which legah/cd discrimination, by unions which denied mem bership to Bl.i.ks. and by outright tear on the part o f Blacks lo r their salety All these pressures were intensi fied as Blacks became free Many former slave-owners no paying jobs into better employment. D uring the 60s, they moved fastest into clerical and sales occupations, but gains continued into the 1970s. More and more Blacks are e n te rin g p ro fe s s io n a l, te c h n ic a l, and managerial occupations. More Blacks are entering crafts. These gains, which continue in spite o f the current deep recession, cannot be minimized. One o f the most im portant features o f Black upward m ob ility should not go unnoticed and this has occurred in the form s o f women leaving domestic work and entering clerical oc cupations. Between 1964 and 1974, the percentage o f Black women in domestic work fell from 33V# to 11V#. A t the same time, those engaged in clerical work in creased from 11 Vo to 25Vo. Yet, Blacks continue to be badly underrepresented in the better paying jobs, and this is only partly related to the lack o f skills which can be traced to discrimination in all facets o f education. As one Black economist, Marcus Alexis, points out, “ People do not train for jobs from which they know that they w ill be excluded.” Underrepresentation is also due to discrim ination o f em ployers and, in some cases, d is c rim in a tio n o f customers. Hence, an employer would argue that it was not he who was u n w illin g to hire Blacks, b ut his customers who objected to them. The real question is why after decades o f denials, there was a sudden burst o f upward m ob ility o f Blacks? One reason was the C iv il Rights Act o f 1964 which of some of the finest technical schools in the nation and team an A ir Force skill. Because that's what it’s all about in the Air Force. 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