
For the past few months, I have tried several times to write on a subject for Ask Gwen that I believe will be a great topic of discussion. Yet, every time I start work on that particular topic, I end up putting it on the back burner in order to publish a different topic. Last week I made the decision that no matter what, I was going to make it this week's topic of discussion.
Wednesday morning I sat in front of my laptop and began constructing the outline for the blog post. After looking over previous notes I knew I would have to do some additional research to solidify my thoughts on the subject. So I began. I started clicking on website after website jotting down this piece of information, bookmarking this site and that site. A little happiness came over me as I realized this thing was taking shape and I was finally going to publish on that particular topic.
I decided I needed some hard numbers to back-up my claims so I turned to one of my favorite sources, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It was there that I ran across it; a statistic that would not leave my mind. No matter how hard I tried to focus on my chosen topic, I could not get this information out of my mind. By Friday night I made the decision to once again place my initial blog post on hold so that I could publish on a subject that is quite disturbing to me as an American as well as African-American.
According to the BLS, the mid-year national unemployment rate for the U.S. is holding around 6.3%. That translates into about 9.8 million Americans who are out of work and seeking employment. It was the breakdown of that 6.3% that caught my attention. The website shows that in May of 2014 the ethnic breakdown of the unemployment rate for the U.S. is: Caucasians (5.4%), Hispanics (7.7%), Asian-Americans (5.3%), and African-Americans (11.5%) (View report). More research on the subject revealed to me that the African-American unemployment rate has consistently doubled that of the majority race for the past six decades (View report). The information puzzled, surprised, and disheartened me. So my question is why?
As I pondered this information over and over again, I went back to my time in higher education. I recall several reports that showed the college graduation rate in the African-American community has rose nearly 11% in the last decade (View here). Yes at 42% nationally, the overall graduation rate is still low, but the bottom line is the rate has improved. Why is it that an 11% increase in college educated African-Americans results in no improvement in the unemployment rate gap with Caucasians? Umm, I guess that means the answer cannot lie in simply educating our race. There has to be something more.
So now I turn my attention to employer hiring practices. My background in human resources gives me firsthand account on this subject. In 2014, can the answer lie in the fact that minorities are still experiencing unfair hiring practices? According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claims accusing employers of violating federal law in applicant recruitment, application processing, and hiring and promotion have increased since 2010. Companies such as BMW and Dollar General are currently facing federal charges on the use of background checks to keep African-Americans and other minorities from gaining employment or receiving promotions (View here).
In addition to background checks, over the last decade the labor force has seen a 60% increase in employers who use credit histories as a screening tool. In October of 2010, a representative for the National Consumer Law Center testified before EEOC, that the use of credit history as a screening tool provides no insight on job performance. What is does offer is a way for employers to screen out African-Americans and Latino's in their hiring practices (View here). Is this the answer to why there is an ever present employment gap? Have employers simply gotten smarter at screening out minorities?
I read a number of theories provided by sociologists and researchers concerning a "skills gap," "labor & population distribution," and "employment models." The only thing I found was that they were just theories with no concrete evidence of their claims and quite frankly a lot of excuses that started to upset me. I decided that I cannot offer you the reader a concrete explanation. All I can offer you at this time is proven facts.
It is a fact that there is a consistent unemployment gap between African-Americans and Caucasians that is nearly 2 to 1. It is a fact that employers are increasingly utilizing screening tools that result in unfair hiring practices with minorities. It is a fact that African-American's are pursuing and accomplishing higher education more than at any time in our cultural history but we are still behind in employment. And it is a fact that something has to change. How do we as a people (Americans) make that change?
Wednesday morning I sat in front of my laptop and began constructing the outline for the blog post. After looking over previous notes I knew I would have to do some additional research to solidify my thoughts on the subject. So I began. I started clicking on website after website jotting down this piece of information, bookmarking this site and that site. A little happiness came over me as I realized this thing was taking shape and I was finally going to publish on that particular topic.
I decided I needed some hard numbers to back-up my claims so I turned to one of my favorite sources, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). It was there that I ran across it; a statistic that would not leave my mind. No matter how hard I tried to focus on my chosen topic, I could not get this information out of my mind. By Friday night I made the decision to once again place my initial blog post on hold so that I could publish on a subject that is quite disturbing to me as an American as well as African-American.
According to the BLS, the mid-year national unemployment rate for the U.S. is holding around 6.3%. That translates into about 9.8 million Americans who are out of work and seeking employment. It was the breakdown of that 6.3% that caught my attention. The website shows that in May of 2014 the ethnic breakdown of the unemployment rate for the U.S. is: Caucasians (5.4%), Hispanics (7.7%), Asian-Americans (5.3%), and African-Americans (11.5%) (View report). More research on the subject revealed to me that the African-American unemployment rate has consistently doubled that of the majority race for the past six decades (View report). The information puzzled, surprised, and disheartened me. So my question is why?
As I pondered this information over and over again, I went back to my time in higher education. I recall several reports that showed the college graduation rate in the African-American community has rose nearly 11% in the last decade (View here). Yes at 42% nationally, the overall graduation rate is still low, but the bottom line is the rate has improved. Why is it that an 11% increase in college educated African-Americans results in no improvement in the unemployment rate gap with Caucasians? Umm, I guess that means the answer cannot lie in simply educating our race. There has to be something more.
So now I turn my attention to employer hiring practices. My background in human resources gives me firsthand account on this subject. In 2014, can the answer lie in the fact that minorities are still experiencing unfair hiring practices? According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), claims accusing employers of violating federal law in applicant recruitment, application processing, and hiring and promotion have increased since 2010. Companies such as BMW and Dollar General are currently facing federal charges on the use of background checks to keep African-Americans and other minorities from gaining employment or receiving promotions (View here).
In addition to background checks, over the last decade the labor force has seen a 60% increase in employers who use credit histories as a screening tool. In October of 2010, a representative for the National Consumer Law Center testified before EEOC, that the use of credit history as a screening tool provides no insight on job performance. What is does offer is a way for employers to screen out African-Americans and Latino's in their hiring practices (View here). Is this the answer to why there is an ever present employment gap? Have employers simply gotten smarter at screening out minorities?
I read a number of theories provided by sociologists and researchers concerning a "skills gap," "labor & population distribution," and "employment models." The only thing I found was that they were just theories with no concrete evidence of their claims and quite frankly a lot of excuses that started to upset me. I decided that I cannot offer you the reader a concrete explanation. All I can offer you at this time is proven facts.
It is a fact that there is a consistent unemployment gap between African-Americans and Caucasians that is nearly 2 to 1. It is a fact that employers are increasingly utilizing screening tools that result in unfair hiring practices with minorities. It is a fact that African-American's are pursuing and accomplishing higher education more than at any time in our cultural history but we are still behind in employment. And it is a fact that something has to change. How do we as a people (Americans) make that change?