Recently released employment figures show continued improvement. Black leaders say, however, there's little to celebrate when Black unemployment continues to rise.
The nation's payrolls grew moderately last month, adding about 248,000 new jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's most recent employment report. That wasn't enough to push down unemployment, which remained at 5.7 percent, and most certainly was enough to affect unemployeed Black workers, who suffered even greater joblessness.
"I am encouraged by the news that the nation's payrolls made moderate strides during the month of may," said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). “However, I am very concerned that despite the jobs created over the last few months, the nation's unemployment rate has not shown a significant decline since December 2003," Cummings said. "The employment picture gets worse if you are African American."
William Rodgers, chief economist for the John H. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, says, he is also encouraged by the faint signs of economic growth. He added, thought, that the economy is barely creating enough jobs to keep pace with the number of new people entering the workforce, which is why there's been no improvement in the overall unemployment.
Additionally, even though business productivity is up, worker wages are down, Cummings said, citing statistics from Business Week, which show that one in four workers, or 25 percent of US workers, are making $18,800 or less, and many are working at least two jobs to make ends meet.
“That means that our economy is creating a permanent class of working poor,” Cummings said. “Increasingly, workers are clocking more hours, but bringing home less and less at the end of the day.”
The economy added nearly 1.2 million jobs over the last three months – the largest increase in jobs in four years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the overall unemployment rate for Blacks increased from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent, which is double the 5 percent unemployment rate of Whites, the statistics show.
African American Unemployment At-A-Glance
Since January, African-Americans unemployment has averaged 1.6 million. The number of unemployed Black men, ages 20 and over, has averaged 686,000, while the number of unemployed Black women in the same age group is at its lowest point this year – dropping from 739,000 to 700,000.
Perhaps, most alarming, are the number of jobless Black youths. The bureau reported a 4 percent jump in the number of unemployed Black teen-ages. That translates to about 50,000 more jobless Black teens than in April.
Since Bush took office nearly four years ago, about 3 million jobs have evaporated. The latest figures suggest that nearly half of those have now been recovered.
But, some observers point out that many of those jobs have been replaced by low-wage, service-sector slots that do not provide health care or other family sustaining benefits for employees.
About 160,000 -- more than 65 percent -- of the newly generated jobs were service-related; 32,000 manufacturing jobs; 37,000 were in construction; and 19,000 -- or 7 percent -- were retail jobs. The government was the only major category to report falling employment numbers.
If the economy continues to add jobs at it's current pace, Black unemployment will eventually improve, economist Rodgers says. "If you look at employment like a ladder, the unskilled and uneducated are on the lower rungs," he explained. "African-Americans, because of those factors and discrimination, are on the lower rungs, too. The economy hasn't picked up enough to affect people on the lower rungs."
Do you think the economy will continue to improve or falter?
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