Hit Hard by the Recession, Left Behind in the Recovery: achieving full employment for black workers (EPI Forums)
While all demographic groups have endured high rates of unemployment in the wake of the Great Recession, African Americans have seen the highest levels. In 2011, the black unemployment rate averaged 15.8 percenttwice the white average of 7.9 percent. Even during good economic times, the black unemployment rate is typically about twice the white rate. In 2007, when the white unemployment rate averaged 4.1 percent, the black rate averaged 8.3 percent.
During 2011, the overall reduction in the unemployment rate was reflected in declining rates for both whites and Latinos, yet the unemployment rate for African Americans was the same at the beginning of 2011 as it was at years end.
Join us for a panel that explores about what should be done to reduce high black unemployment today, and what should be done to break the 2-to-1 black-to-white unemployment rate ratio that persists even in good economic times.
Panelists
Algernon Austin, Director, Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy
Tanya Clay House, Director of Public Policy, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
Brandon Garrett, Policy Director, Congressional Black Caucus
Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) (invited)
