5/18/2011
Dr. Algernon Austin speaks in Minneapolis on the challenges facing black workers
Dr. Algernon Austin spoke in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 6, 2011 on the challenges facing black workers in finding employment. He delivered the keynote address for the event “Closing the Disparity Gap: Recognizing & Engaging Diverse Talent.” Above he is pictured with fellow presenters. From left to right, they are Keswic Joiner, director of Risk Management for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities; Velma Korbel, director of the Department of Civil Rights for the City of Minneapolis; Algernon Austin, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute; Robin Hickman, executive producer of Soultouch Productions; Joseph Ellis, senior vice president for Wealth Management at Wells Fargo; and Roxanne Givens, founder of the Minnesota African American Museum and Cultural Center.
5/12/2011
Two Angles on the Black Jobs Crisis
Few Jobs for Black Teens
In 2009, teens from poor families were less likely to find work than their middle-class peers. Poor African American teens, however, were the worst off: Only 20% were able to find work, compared with 31% of poor Hispanic teens and 36% of poor white teens. In fact, middle-class African American teens were only slightly more likely to find work than poor white teens.
[Read more]
High Unemployment for Married Black Men
In 2010, African-American husbands were 71 percent more likely to be unemployed than their African-American wives and nearly twice as likely as husbands in white couples to be unemployed.
[Read more]
4/28/2011
A View from the Black Depression
In the decade leading up to the Great Recession, Wanda Nolan grew accustomed to steady progress.
From an entry-level job as a fill-in bank teller, she forged a career as a commercial banking assistant, earning enough to become a homeowner. She finished college and then got an MBA....
But in September 2008, everything changed.
A bank human resources officer called her into a private conference room. “All I heard was, ‘Your position has been eliminated,’” ...
More than two years later, Nolan is still looking for a job and feeling increasingly anxious about a future that once felt assured."
...
“Over the course of the recession, the unemployment disparity between college educated blacks and whites actually widened,” says economist Algernon Austin, director of the Race, Ethnicity, and Economy program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “If black workers who are the most prepared to compete and work in the new economy can’t find jobs, that’s something that we as a country have to take seriously.”
[Read more]
From an entry-level job as a fill-in bank teller, she forged a career as a commercial banking assistant, earning enough to become a homeowner. She finished college and then got an MBA....
But in September 2008, everything changed.
A bank human resources officer called her into a private conference room. “All I heard was, ‘Your position has been eliminated,’” ...
More than two years later, Nolan is still looking for a job and feeling increasingly anxious about a future that once felt assured."
...
“Over the course of the recession, the unemployment disparity between college educated blacks and whites actually widened,” says economist Algernon Austin, director of the Race, Ethnicity, and Economy program at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. “If black workers who are the most prepared to compete and work in the new economy can’t find jobs, that’s something that we as a country have to take seriously.”
[Read more]
4/25/2011
A Tale of Two D.C.s
The data from the Depressed States [PDF] analysis shows starkly different experiences for white and black D.C. The unemployment rates for whites only show a slight indication of declining economic conditions over the Great Recession. The D.C. white unemployment rate peaked at 5.2% in 2009, significantly below the white rate nationally. The black rate has risen steadily from 2008 and peaked at nearly 19% in the end of 2010, higher than the black rate nationally.
In D.C., many people were surprised that blacks and whites had different assessments of the recently departed mayor Adrian Fenty. But if the only adage is true that "It's the Economy Stupid" then we should not be surprised.
Black D.C. is experiencing the full and brutal force of the Great Recession and probably will not recover for another two years. White D.C. experienced a very mild economic downturn that ended last year.
In D.C., many people were surprised that blacks and whites had different assessments of the recently departed mayor Adrian Fenty. But if the only adage is true that "It's the Economy Stupid" then we should not be surprised.
Black D.C. is experiencing the full and brutal force of the Great Recession and probably will not recover for another two years. White D.C. experienced a very mild economic downturn that ended last year.
4/22/2011
The Continuing Jobs Deficit
“The biggest deficit we face is the jobs deficit.”
--Congressman Xavier Becerra
"Recent reports of incremental employment gains should not overshadow the continuing depth of the jobs crisis in America—a crisis whose severity for some groups rivals the magnitude of the Great Depression. For example, unemployment among African Americans in Michigan and Hispanics in Rhode Island has exceeded 20% since 2009. In 17 other states, the African American unemployment rate was at least 15% for most or all of 2010 . . . ." [Read more]
"Young blacks and Hispanics are suffering disproportionately. The unemployment rate for black high school graduates under age 25 and not enrolled in school was 31.8%, compared with 22.8% for Hispanic high school graduates and 20.3% for white high school graduates. The unemployment rate for young black college graduates was 19.0%, compared with 13.8% for young Hispanic graduates and 8.4% for young white graduates." [Read more]
4/20/2011
Crack vs. OxyContin
From the New York Times: "And on Tuesday, the Obama administration announced plans to fight prescription drug addiction nationally, noting that it was now killing more people than crack cocaine in the 1980s and heroin in the 1970s combined."
"Among 18-to-25 year olds, white youth are two-and-a-half times as likely as black youth to abuse prescription drugs. The abuse of drugs like OxyContin kill more people than crack cocaine and yet, as measured by the intensity of our policing and prosecution, our criminal justice system views crack cocaine as the greater harm to society." [Read more about "White Privilege and Illicit Drugs"]
"Among 18-to-25 year olds, white youth are two-and-a-half times as likely as black youth to abuse prescription drugs. The abuse of drugs like OxyContin kill more people than crack cocaine and yet, as measured by the intensity of our policing and prosecution, our criminal justice system views crack cocaine as the greater harm to society." [Read more about "White Privilege and Illicit Drugs"]
4/18/2011
Tax Evasion: The Real Costs
Tax evasion will cost the U.S. government $305 billion in 2010 and has cost $3 trillion over the past decade. It is a major contributor to budget deficits and the accumulation of national debt since 2001. Tax evasion also costs state treasuries billions of dollars. Every tax filer will pay an extra $2,200 in 2010 to make up for the funds lost to tax cheating. Even modest success in reducing tax evasion would free up significant new resources for spending or deficit reduction. Yet last weekÕs budget deal nixed a proposal by the Obama Administration to strengthen the IRS’s enforcement capacity. [Read more]
4/12/2011
Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan: Trillions for the Rich, Pain for Everyone Else
The metaphor of the federal government as a family that needs to cut back on spending is a popular one today. But when a family finds itself in difficult financial circumstances, there are at least two major options: (1) reduce spending, or (2) increase income. Now imagine a family that is having difficulty paying its bills, and the family decides that it needs to bring in less income. The family tells you that if they were $10,000 poorer then they would be better able to pay their bills. Most people would say that this family is insane. If you can’t pay your bills you need more income not less.
Yet, conservatives have been reducing the government’s income--tax revenue--massively. The tax cuts that conservatives have been pushing shows that they are not serious about addressing government deficits and debt. What they are serious about is increasing the wealth of the rich.
In December, the Tax Cut-Unemployment Compromise Bill included $139 billion in tax cuts to the wealthy. Among the items that conservatives won in this deal was a reduction in the taxes paid by people inheriting estates worth up to $5 million. Most of the people inheriting $5 million estates are no doubt quite well-off before the inheritance. Yet, conservatives were willing to keep unemployed workers from receiving unemployment insurance until they made certain that the rich would pay fewer taxes on inheritances.
The $5 million level in the new estate tax provision is indexed to inflation so that it does not decline in value over time. While this provision for millionaires is indexed to inflation, the minimum wage for the lowest-income American workers is not. Year after year, we allow the minimum wage to decline in value and allow the living standards of the poorest workers to degrade, but when it comes to policies for millionaires policymakers remember to make sure that millionaire’s benefits do not erode over time.
The latest and most-hyped among the conservative budget plans is Congressman Paul Ryan’s. Ryan’s budget plan proposes $4.3 trillion in cuts to programs for the needy with one hand and then gives $4.2 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy with the other. Thus, there is little in the way of debt reduction, just pain for the needy and windfalls for the rich.
And Ryan is extremely generous when it comes to dishing out pain for those who are not rich. His plan greatly weakens Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Pell Grants. Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states that Ryan’s plan “would produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history, while increasing poverty and inequality more than any measure in recent times and possibly in the nation’s history.” This is a money grab for the rich, not a serious attempt to address the national debt.
“The Federal Treasury loses twice as much revenue due to tax breaks than Congress appropriates on all nonsecurity discretionary spending” reports the Center for American Progress, yet over and over again the target for conservatives is nonsecurity spending and not tax breaks. Social Security does not add to the national debt since it is funded separately from the federal budget and still has a surplus in its trust fund, but conservatives keep throwing it into debt reduction plans. None of this makes sense if one is truly concerned about our annual deficits and the national debt.
The real goal of conservatives is the perennial conservative goal of giving tax cuts to the wealthy and drastically reducing government services to low-income Americans. They have skillfully used the economic crisis (caused by the conservative policy of deregulating financial institutions, by the way) to mask their agenda. They would not be able to so easily accomplish this goal without the assistance of Democratic leadership in Washington. Key Democrats are more interested in forwarding their re-election strategy of appearing centrist and compromising with conservatives than in criticizing dangerously misguided conservative policies.
Yet, conservatives have been reducing the government’s income--tax revenue--massively. The tax cuts that conservatives have been pushing shows that they are not serious about addressing government deficits and debt. What they are serious about is increasing the wealth of the rich.
In December, the Tax Cut-Unemployment Compromise Bill included $139 billion in tax cuts to the wealthy. Among the items that conservatives won in this deal was a reduction in the taxes paid by people inheriting estates worth up to $5 million. Most of the people inheriting $5 million estates are no doubt quite well-off before the inheritance. Yet, conservatives were willing to keep unemployed workers from receiving unemployment insurance until they made certain that the rich would pay fewer taxes on inheritances.
The $5 million level in the new estate tax provision is indexed to inflation so that it does not decline in value over time. While this provision for millionaires is indexed to inflation, the minimum wage for the lowest-income American workers is not. Year after year, we allow the minimum wage to decline in value and allow the living standards of the poorest workers to degrade, but when it comes to policies for millionaires policymakers remember to make sure that millionaire’s benefits do not erode over time.
The latest and most-hyped among the conservative budget plans is Congressman Paul Ryan’s. Ryan’s budget plan proposes $4.3 trillion in cuts to programs for the needy with one hand and then gives $4.2 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthy with the other. Thus, there is little in the way of debt reduction, just pain for the needy and windfalls for the rich.
And Ryan is extremely generous when it comes to dishing out pain for those who are not rich. His plan greatly weakens Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Pell Grants. Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states that Ryan’s plan “would produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history, while increasing poverty and inequality more than any measure in recent times and possibly in the nation’s history.” This is a money grab for the rich, not a serious attempt to address the national debt.
“The Federal Treasury loses twice as much revenue due to tax breaks than Congress appropriates on all nonsecurity discretionary spending” reports the Center for American Progress, yet over and over again the target for conservatives is nonsecurity spending and not tax breaks. Social Security does not add to the national debt since it is funded separately from the federal budget and still has a surplus in its trust fund, but conservatives keep throwing it into debt reduction plans. None of this makes sense if one is truly concerned about our annual deficits and the national debt.
The real goal of conservatives is the perennial conservative goal of giving tax cuts to the wealthy and drastically reducing government services to low-income Americans. They have skillfully used the economic crisis (caused by the conservative policy of deregulating financial institutions, by the way) to mask their agenda. They would not be able to so easily accomplish this goal without the assistance of Democratic leadership in Washington. Key Democrats are more interested in forwarding their re-election strategy of appearing centrist and compromising with conservatives than in criticizing dangerously misguided conservative policies.
4/07/2011
3/29/2011
Why Blacks Need to Pay Attention to Social Security Politics
Blacks are more dependent on Social Security for retirement than other groups. While 15.4% of Americans rely on Social Security for all of their retirement income. It is 27.7% for blacks. See the Washington Post graphic.
3/25/2011
Missing Blacks? Look South
Both Michigan and Illinois, whose cities have rich black cultural traditions, showed an overall loss of blacks for the first time, said William Frey, the chief demographer at the Brookings Institution.
And Atlanta, for the first time, has replaced Chicago as the metro area with the largest number of African-Americans after New York. About 17 percent of blacks who moved to the South in the past decade left New York State, far more than from any other state, the census data show.
. . .
Northern blacks were a big part of Southern gains. There are now more than one million black residents of the South who were born in the Northeast, a tenfold increase since 1970.
[Read more]
And Atlanta, for the first time, has replaced Chicago as the metro area with the largest number of African-Americans after New York. About 17 percent of blacks who moved to the South in the past decade left New York State, far more than from any other state, the census data show.
. . .
Northern blacks were a big part of Southern gains. There are now more than one million black residents of the South who were born in the Northeast, a tenfold increase since 1970.
[Read more]
"Chocolate City" No More
The number of African Americans residing in the District plummeted by more than 11 percent during the past decade, with blacks on the verge of losing their majority status in the city for the first time in half a century.
According to census statistics released Thursday, barely 50 percent of the District’s population was African American in 2010 — a remarkable shift in a place once nicknamed “Chocolate City.”
[Read more]
According to census statistics released Thursday, barely 50 percent of the District’s population was African American in 2010 — a remarkable shift in a place once nicknamed “Chocolate City.”
[Read more]
3/23/2011
Detroit Keeps Shrinking
“This is the biggest loss of blacks the city has shown, and that’s tied to the foreclosures in the city’s housing,” Mr. Frey said. Because of the Great Migration — when blacks flowed from the South to the North — and the loss of whites, he said, “Detroit has been the most segregated city in the country and it is still pretty segregated, but not as much.” At one point, the city was 83 percent black.
Many blacks moved to nearby suburbs, but census data shows that even those suburbs have barely held their own against population loss.
[Read more]
Many blacks moved to nearby suburbs, but census data shows that even those suburbs have barely held their own against population loss.
[Read more]
Separate and Unequal
We pretend that no one’s a racist anymore, but it’s easier to talk about pornography in polite company than racial integration. Everybody’s in favor of helping poor black kids do better in school, but the consensus is that those efforts are best confined to the kids’ own poor black neighborhoods.
[Read more]
[Read more]
3/20/2011
Racial Mixing Greatly Exaggerated
While it is true that growing numbers of Americans identify as being of more than one race, we are still an overwhelming mono-racial population. And we will be majority mono-racial for quite a while. In 2009, only 2.5 percent of the population identified as being "two or more races."
Recently, the New York Times reported that "nearly 9 percent of all marriages in the United States . . . were interracial or interethnic." This amount is more than double the percentage in 1980. It is a growing percentage, but still a small one.
When one examines the interethnic marriages between Hispanics and non-Hispanics carefully as I do below, these marriages seem much less like Americans moving to a new frontier and more like Americans retreading the same ground that we have for centuries.
In 2009, the vast majority of whites married whites. The vast majority of blacks married blacks. The majority of Asians, married Asians.
Hispanics also mainly marry other Hispanics. Further, many of the marriages where Hispanics marry a non-Hispanic are, in fact, marriages between people of the same race.
Before we go into the data published by the New York Times, we need to be aware of certain facts about Hispanic classification. The Census Bureau convention is that being Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Hispanics can be of any race. One can be white and Hispanic, black and Hispanic, Asian and Hispanic, and American Indian and Hispanic.
About 60 percent of Hispanics identify racially as white. About 30 percent apparently reject the Census Bureau conventions and say that their race is "Other." However, the Times data does not present information about the "Others." Only about 2 percent of Hispanics, identify as black.
The data for men and women are quite similar. For brevity, I will only discuss the race of the women Hispanic men married. In 2009, only 18 percent of white Hispanic men did not marry a white Hispanic woman. But 17 percent of them married a white non-Hispanic woman. Only 1 percent of white Hispanic men married someone who was not white. Thus, the interethnic marriages of white Hispanics are almost entirely of whites marrying other whites.
Black Hispanic men had more interracial marriages, but still half of them married another black Hispanic. Twenty-two percent of black Hispanics married black non-Hispanics. Nearly three quarters of black Hispanic men married black women, Hispanic and non-Hispanic. Therefore, these interethnic marriages, too, are mainly of black people marrying other black people.
Interracial marriage is increasing. But this does not change the fact that Americans overwhelmingly marry people of the same race. The interethnic Hispanic marriages that some take as evidence of old boundaries breaking down are mainly marriages of whites marrying whites and blacks marrying blacks. This marriage pattern is a very old one in America.
Recently, the New York Times reported that "nearly 9 percent of all marriages in the United States . . . were interracial or interethnic." This amount is more than double the percentage in 1980. It is a growing percentage, but still a small one.
When one examines the interethnic marriages between Hispanics and non-Hispanics carefully as I do below, these marriages seem much less like Americans moving to a new frontier and more like Americans retreading the same ground that we have for centuries.
In 2009, the vast majority of whites married whites. The vast majority of blacks married blacks. The majority of Asians, married Asians.
Hispanics also mainly marry other Hispanics. Further, many of the marriages where Hispanics marry a non-Hispanic are, in fact, marriages between people of the same race.
Before we go into the data published by the New York Times, we need to be aware of certain facts about Hispanic classification. The Census Bureau convention is that being Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race. Hispanics can be of any race. One can be white and Hispanic, black and Hispanic, Asian and Hispanic, and American Indian and Hispanic.
About 60 percent of Hispanics identify racially as white. About 30 percent apparently reject the Census Bureau conventions and say that their race is "Other." However, the Times data does not present information about the "Others." Only about 2 percent of Hispanics, identify as black.
The data for men and women are quite similar. For brevity, I will only discuss the race of the women Hispanic men married. In 2009, only 18 percent of white Hispanic men did not marry a white Hispanic woman. But 17 percent of them married a white non-Hispanic woman. Only 1 percent of white Hispanic men married someone who was not white. Thus, the interethnic marriages of white Hispanics are almost entirely of whites marrying other whites.
Black Hispanic men had more interracial marriages, but still half of them married another black Hispanic. Twenty-two percent of black Hispanics married black non-Hispanics. Nearly three quarters of black Hispanic men married black women, Hispanic and non-Hispanic. Therefore, these interethnic marriages, too, are mainly of black people marrying other black people.
Interracial marriage is increasing. But this does not change the fact that Americans overwhelmingly marry people of the same race. The interethnic Hispanic marriages that some take as evidence of old boundaries breaking down are mainly marriages of whites marrying whites and blacks marrying blacks. This marriage pattern is a very old one in America.
3/18/2011
We Are Still a Highly Segregated Country
The latest Census numbers show continued (slow) decline in the racial segregation of metro areas. Today, the average white American lives in a neighborhood that’s 7 percent black, 10 percent Latino, and 4 percent Asian. Three decades ago, the average white’s neighborhood was only 5 percent black, 5 percent Latino, and 1 percent Asian. So lots of white people see their neighborhoods as diverse. But even so, if you’re anything like the average white person, your neighbors are still overwhelmingly white.
[Read more]
[Read more]
3/16/2011
3/15/2011
Low-Income Renters Suffering
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released its biannual report to Congress on the housing needs of low income Americans.
It shows an increased number of very low-income households have severe housing difficulties, particularly housing costs that far exceed what they can afford.
[Read more]
It shows an increased number of very low-income households have severe housing difficulties, particularly housing costs that far exceed what they can afford.
[Read more]
3/14/2011
Why Do Blacks Earn Less?
In 2008, the nation elected its first black president, Barack Obama. While some were celebrating the supposed arrival of a post-racial America, black men more generally earned only 71% of what white men earned. The median hourly wage for black male full-time workers was $14.90; for comparable white workers it was $20.84. There is no reason to expect that these differences are significantly smaller today.
Educational and other differences can explain some, but not all, of the black-white wage gap. At the end of the day, it turns out that being black matters. Two new reports that I co-authored show that neither education, skills nor culture fully explain the black-white wage disparities. The first report focuses on the occupations of black men, the second on the wages of black immigrants.
Black workers do not have equal access to all jobs. “Whiter Jobs, Higher Wages” [PDF] by Darrick Hamilton, William Darity, Jr. and myself shows that, after making adjustments for educational attainment, black men are underrepresented in 49% of all occupations and overrepresented in 38%. Thus, only 13% of occupations look like what we would expect in a land of equal opportunity.
This uneven occupational distribution is particularly important because the occupations where black men are overrepresented have an average wage that is nearly $14,000 less than the occupations where black men are underrepresented. In other words, the whiter the workforce for an occupation is the higher the pay.
This finding of whiter jobs, higher pay is not specific to any class of occupations. Blacks in managerial and professional occupations are overrepresented in the lower-paying managerial and professional occupations. Blacks in the service sector are overrepresented in the lower-paying service occupations. Blacks in manufacturing and transportation occupations are overrepresented in the lower-paying manufacturing and transportation occupations. It does not matter whether occupations require “soft skills,” “hard skills,” or managerial skills, blacks will be overrepresented in the lower-paying jobs.
The conventional wisdom that black immigrants do better economically than U.S.-born blacks because black immigrants supposedly have better cultural values also does not hold up to scrutiny. Patrick Mason and I examine the socio-economic standing and wages of black immigrants relative to U.S.-born whites and blacks in “The Low Wages of Black Immigrants” [PDF].
On all measures, U.S.-born whites come out ahead of the pack. After taking into account 15 wage-relevant factors, we find that black immigrants do not earn higher wages than U.S.-born blacks. In fact, some black immigrant groups do worse. The wages of Haitian and African men are particularly low relative to similar U.S.-born white and black men.
The major point, however, is that all blacks, U.S.-born and foreign-born, face similar economic problems. If one wants to succeed economically in American society, it helps to be white.
Educational and other differences can explain some, but not all, of the black-white wage gap. At the end of the day, it turns out that being black matters. Two new reports that I co-authored show that neither education, skills nor culture fully explain the black-white wage disparities. The first report focuses on the occupations of black men, the second on the wages of black immigrants.
Black workers do not have equal access to all jobs. “Whiter Jobs, Higher Wages” [PDF] by Darrick Hamilton, William Darity, Jr. and myself shows that, after making adjustments for educational attainment, black men are underrepresented in 49% of all occupations and overrepresented in 38%. Thus, only 13% of occupations look like what we would expect in a land of equal opportunity.
This uneven occupational distribution is particularly important because the occupations where black men are overrepresented have an average wage that is nearly $14,000 less than the occupations where black men are underrepresented. In other words, the whiter the workforce for an occupation is the higher the pay.
This finding of whiter jobs, higher pay is not specific to any class of occupations. Blacks in managerial and professional occupations are overrepresented in the lower-paying managerial and professional occupations. Blacks in the service sector are overrepresented in the lower-paying service occupations. Blacks in manufacturing and transportation occupations are overrepresented in the lower-paying manufacturing and transportation occupations. It does not matter whether occupations require “soft skills,” “hard skills,” or managerial skills, blacks will be overrepresented in the lower-paying jobs.
The conventional wisdom that black immigrants do better economically than U.S.-born blacks because black immigrants supposedly have better cultural values also does not hold up to scrutiny. Patrick Mason and I examine the socio-economic standing and wages of black immigrants relative to U.S.-born whites and blacks in “The Low Wages of Black Immigrants” [PDF].
On all measures, U.S.-born whites come out ahead of the pack. After taking into account 15 wage-relevant factors, we find that black immigrants do not earn higher wages than U.S.-born blacks. In fact, some black immigrant groups do worse. The wages of Haitian and African men are particularly low relative to similar U.S.-born white and black men.
The major point, however, is that all blacks, U.S.-born and foreign-born, face similar economic problems. If one wants to succeed economically in American society, it helps to be white.
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