DES MOINES -- Living in a state with one of the nation's lowest unemployment rates, Kelindre Briggs is miffed that she can't get a job.
McDonald's, Burger King, Git-N-Go -- you name the company, and the 19-year-old Des Moines resident has probably applied there.
"But you never get an interview," Briggs says, her voice edged with frustration.
Briggs lacks a deep resume, but statistics indicate her race may be another obstacle to employment.
An analysis of the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows blacks in Iowa are 4.5 times as likely to be out of work as whites -- the greatest disparity in the United States.
A similar analysis using data from the Census' 2005 American Community Survey ranks Iowa fifth-worst when it comes to employment equality.
Despite equal-opportunity efforts by many Iowa employers, the disparity appears to be widening.
In the 1980 census, blacks in Iowa were 2.3 times as likely as whites to be unemployed. By 2000, that number had increased to 3.3. Data from 2005 show the gap is continuing to grow.
Nationally, blacks are unemployed at a rate just slightly double that of whites.
"It shows here in Iowa we have a problem when it comes to African-American unemployment," Gov.-elect Chet Culver says in a copyright story in The Des Moines Register. "This is clearly an issue we are going to need to address in the near future as we work to expand access to higher education and bring good paying jobs into the state."
Many theories have been proposed for why more blacks struggle to find jobs. The ideas include lower rates of educational achievement and higher incarceration rates.
Those who believe those theories are "in denial," says Gloria Jones-Johnson, a professor of sociology at Iowa State University. She says Iowans prefer those explanations because they allow them to ignore the root of the problem -- cultural bias.
"It's hard for whites to talk about racism, especially in a state like Iowa where race is taken for granted," she says. "They can very easily emphasize education and other things. But these numbers suggest that something is structurally wrong."
Iowa employers insist they're actively seeking minority employees and have done everything in their power to weed out bias in hiring practices.
Sue Cheek, manager of work force planning at MidAmerican Energy, says the company works with 150 agencies to increase its pool of minorities.
"I think it's critical that if we are going to successfully serve our customers who comprise diversity in every sense of the word, we need to have a work force that reflects that," she says.
State Rep. Wayne Ford, D-Des Moines, says state officials are proud that Iowa's overall unemployment rate is fifth-best in the nation. "But I'm appalled when you break that percentage down," he says.
Ford says the racial job divide widens when blacks don't bother applying at places where they feel they don't fit in.
"Downtown corporate Des Moines can be very frightening to any individual who's not self-confident, black or white," he says.
Briggs, whose preference would be a job in telemarketing or child care, says she's felt intimidated.
The biggest hole on Briggs' resume is a lack of experience. She worked at the Hy-Vee near her house for a short stint as a high school senior but lost her job when her family moved across town.
She hasn't held a job since.
Her 3-year-old daughter asks her about it all the time.
"She says, 'Grandma's at work and Uncle Phil's at work and Aunt Kiashay's at work. Mom, why don't you have a job?"' Briggs says. "You keep saying, 'I'm looking, I'm looking.' It's hard."
Briggs says it's nearly impossible to live on the $426 a month she gets in government aid.
But someday she hopes to finish her degree in early childhood education and be a model of determination for her children.
"My kids deserve better," Briggs says. "Sometimes if I do feel like giving up, that's what keeps me going."
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