Opinion
Black Unemployment Still Double the U.S. Average
W
hen
unemployment
numbers were released
on Friday, commenta-
tors reacted joyfully.
Alan
Krueger, who heads the White
House Council of Economic
Advisors, described the creation
of 247,000 jobs as a victory
because the predictions were that
the economy would only generate
170,000 jobs. Unemployment
rates went down to 7.7 percent,
while predictions were that they
would drop to 7.8 percent. Some
might call this good news, but
many might wonder who is affect-
ed by this good news.
A deeper examination of the
unemployment data shows the dis-
appointing reality that African
American unemployment rates
remained level, at 13.8 percent.
Meanwhile, White unemployment
rates fell to 6.8 percent and the
rate for White men dropped to 6.3
percent. The racial disparities in
unemployment rates are not new,
but it is hypocritical to celebrate a
drop in White unemployment
rages, without noticing or men-
tioning the stagnation in Black
unemployment rates.
More than new construction jobs
were generated last month, but
since Black unemployment rates
remained level, that suggests that
B ENNETT
C OLLEGE
Julianne
Malveaux
African Americans are not being
brought into that industry (if at all)
at the same rates that Whites.
Implicitly, these data make the
case for continued affirmative
action, especially in well-paid
jobs. In times of economic hard-
ship, those hiring are inclined to
look after their own instead of
spreading the jobs around. And
recent data suggests that African
Americans enter the labor market
with a shallower rolodex than
Whites. Fewer contacts mean
fewer job opportunities.
Whose employment situation
has improved?
The number of long term unem-
ployed remained level at 4.8 mil-
lion people who have been
unemployed for 37 weeks or
more. To be sure, this is a drop
from the 39 weeks of a year or so
ago. Still, the situation for some
of the unemployed has simply not
improved. One of the reasons that
the unemployment rate dropped is
because 130,000 people dropped
out of the labor force because they
could not find jobs.
Eight million people work part-
time for economic reasons. They
would take full time work if only
they could find it. The number of
“marginally attached” workers
stands at 2.4 million. If underuti-
lized workers are included, the
unemployment rate is 14.3 percent
for everyone. If the relationship
between underutilization and
reported unemployment is the
same for African Americans as for
paying attention to the plight of
the unemployed, underemployed,
or out of the labor force Black
worker. The White House and
others love to talk about all of us
being in the same boat. Yet some
are hanging onto the board by
their fingernails, and others are
drowning. And some are strug-
gling to row. Others are riding rel-
atively smoothly through this
recession, watching their situation
improve.
CEA Chairman Krueger says the
data from this employment report
suggests that we are well on our
One of the reasons the
unemployment rate dropped is
130,000 people left the labor force
because they could not find jobs
Whites, then the real unemploy-
ment rate is 25.5 percent, or
almost a fourth, for African Amer-
icans. That’s alarming, yet as I
watch televised reports on Black
unemployment rates, this is
unmentioned.
Black unemployment rates are at
more than Depression levels,
which ought to be completely
unacceptable. It is not. Yet few are
way to economic recovery. From
my perspective this recovery is
neither robust nor inclusive. In
order for this recovery to be fully
celebrated, every sector of Ameri-
cans should see their material con-
ditions increase.
They’ve
increased for some. What about
the others? Where are their advo-
cates?
Too many African American
leaders are asleep at the wheel
when it comes to the employment
situation. Unemployment rates
become a line in their speeches,
not a lode for their leadership.
High unemployment rates explain
why so many African Americans,
at the economic margins, don’t
support civil rights organizations.
They are asking what’s in it for
me.
What if huge numbers of unem-
ployed people were mobilized?
What if, in their economic misery,
some rose up and demanded that
Congress and others pay attention
to their situation? To watch the
situation of Whites improve, while
Black unemployment rates remain
the same, suggests that the vision
of a post-racial society is extreme-
ly unrealistic. African American
people are bearing a disproportion
amount of pain in the current
employment situation. Black peo-
ple are starving, and it seems that
no one, not even civil rights advo-
cates, will act on their behalf.
Julianne Malveaux is a Wash-
ington, D.C.-based economist and
writer. She is President Emerita of
Bennett College for Women in
Greensboro, N.C.
America’s Racial Wealth Gap Triples Over 25 Years
A
ing wealth. With more white families able to
s long as most of us can
receive family financial assistance, make
remember, Black communi-
R ESPONSIBLE
larger up-front payments for home purchases,
ties have taught and
L ENDING
they benefited from lowered interest rates and
believed that a college education is
lending costs. By contrast, black homeown-
the key to social and economic
Charlene
ers were more likely to have high-interest,
advancement. But according to a
Crowell
risky mortgages even when income and cred-
new research and policy brief by
it scores were comparable to those of whites.
Brandeis University scholars, that
As labor market instability tended to affect
long-held belief is only one of sev-
blacks more negatively than whites, accrued
eral factors affecting Black Ameri-
monetary assets became the vehicle to with-
ca’s ability to build wealth.
After Brandeis University’s Institute on Assets and Poli- stand the lack of income and eliminated many opportunities
cies traced 1,700 working Americans households over 25 to invest to build wealth. As a result, black mortgage bor-
years, the researchers found that the wealth gap between rowers became more than twice as likely to lose their homes
white and black families nearly tripled, increasing from to foreclosure.
Brandeis also found that for white families, homeowner-
$85,000 in 1984 to $236,500 in 2009. For each dollar in
income increase during these years, white wealth grew ship represents 39 percent of family wealth; but is 53 per-
cent of black wealth. Due to historic differences in access to
credit, the homeownership rate for white homeowners is
also 28 percent higher than the same rate for black families.
The State of Lending in America and its Impact on U.S.
Households (State of Lending, http://rspnsb.li/stateoflend-
ing) published earlier by the Center for Responsible Lend-
ing cited similar Pew data that found from 2000-2010,
black family wealth dropped 53 percent, and Hispanic fam-
ilies lost 66 percent. By comparison, average white house-
hold wealth dropped only 16 percent.
According to the IASP report, “The paradox is that even
$5.19 while black wealth growth amounted to 69 cents.
Commenting on these findings, Brandeis’ Institute on as homeownership has been the main avenue to building
Assets and Social Policy (IASP) stated, “Our analysis found wealth for African-Americans, it has also increased the
little evidence to support common perceptions about what
underlies the ability to build wealth, including the notion
that personal attributes and behavioral choices are key
pieces of the equation. Instead, the evidence points to poli-
cy and the configuration of both opportunities and barriers
in workplaces, schools, and communities that reinforce
deeply entrenched racial dynamics in how wealth is accu-
mulated and that continue to permeate the most important
spheres of everyday life.”
IASP ranked the biggest drivers of America’s racial
wealth gap:
wealth disparity between whites and blacks. . . Wealth in
1.
Years of homeownership;
black families tends to be close to what is needed to cover
2.
Household income;
emergency savings while wealth in white families is well
3.
Unemployment;
beyond the emergency threshold and can be saved or invest-
4.
College education and
ed more readily.”
5.
Inheritance/other financial support
So is a college education still a part of building wealth?
On average, white families became homeowners eight
years earlier than black families. Oftentimes inheritance The answer is still yes. But the rising costs of college and
and other financial support favored families with pre-exist- mounting student loan debts together lead to more students
– both black and white - leaving school to earn a steady
income before graduation. For black college graduates, 80
percent begin their careers with student debt. For white col-
lege grads, the corresponding debt is 64 percent.
Reflecting on these findings, Tatjana Meschede, the
report’s co-author observed “Public policies play a major
role in widening the already massive racial wealth gap, and
they must play a role in closing it. We should be investing
in prosperity and equity. Instead we are advancing toxic
inequality. A U-turn is needed.”
Charlene Crowell is a communications manager with the
Center for Responsible Lending.
Brandeis U study says policies
and practices - not personal
behavior – drive disparities
black mortgage borrowers
became more than twice as
likely to lose their homes to
foreclosure.
March 13, 2013
The Portland Skanner Page 5