Unemployment Decline: Real or Imagined | New York Amsterdam News
NEW YORK, NY — The unemployment rate among Black Americans declined in the second quarter of 2006, according to the findings of a newly released Pew Hispanic Center report.
In “Latino Labor Report, 2006: Strong Gains in Employment,” which was released in early October, Blacks had the largest unemployment drop (from 9.9 percent to 9 percent) among racial and ethnic groups this year. In addition, the report showed that the median wage among Blacks increased from $480 in 2005 to $487 in 2006 or 1.4 percent.
However, the unemployment plunge among Blacks may have been due mostly to a decrease in their labor force participation rate, which fell from 65 percent to 64.5 percent over the same period.
The report found that as relatively fewer workers seek work, the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate tend to decrease as well. In other words, a smaller pool or workers seeking jobs results in fewer people being counted as unemployed.
But some African-Americans were upset by the findings, contending that the decrease in labor force participation could be construed as evidence supporting the stereotype of Blacks as indolent people.
“How can you participate in the labor force when you are not given the opportunity to do so?” asked Tabitha Jordan, 28, whose effort to find a decent job seemed futile over the last eight months.
Jordan said that after she earned her two-year degree at a New Jersey college, she started sending out job applications. Whether it’s a bookkeeping or data entry position, she felt that a full-time job had been elusive for her.
“I think it becomes more and more difficult for African-Americans to get a job other than those that whites don’t want to do,” she said.
Valentine Igene, 34, agreed that most of the available jobs for Blacks are “menial, paying not more than $6 per hour.” Although he admitted that there are many Black people who are wandering through the streets, instead of going to work, especially in New York City, he viewed employment for most African Americans as a racial issue.
When he applied for a customer service job in Cranford, N.J., a year ago, the phone interviewer told him that the job was no longer vacant after learning about his racial background. In order to confirm it, he asked his white partner to call the company and inquire whether the position had been taken.
“Without a surprise, the same phone interviewer informed my white partner that they need 10 more customer service representatives. The interviewer even arranged the time and date for him to come to the office,” Igene said, who now works for a telecommunications company.
But it did surprise Igene to discover that the phone interviewer was also an African-American.
Algernon Austin, scholar and founder of the Thora Institute, a New Haven, Conn.-based social science organization that serves Black Americans, offered some practical explanations concerning the new findings of the Pew Hispanic Center report.
“There is really a connection between the unemployment rate and the labor force participation among Blacks,” Austin told the Amsterdam News in a phone interview. “But it is clear to me and other scholars that there are two major reasons why African-Africans are discouraged in finding jobs.”
First, Austin said, there is a significant discrimination in the labor market, which was backed by a social science study conducted by Princeton University Professor Devah Pager. “In New York City, equally qualified Blacks are less likely to be hired than white counterparts,” he said. The other reason, Austin added, is economics.
“The U.S. economy is not very strong right now. With discrimination in the labor market coupled with a weak economy, it makes it more discouraging and frustrating for Blacks, particularly Black males, to seek jobs,” he said.
Author's Note: This article was originally published in the New York Amsterdam News on Nov. 2, 2006.
