Julianne Malveaux: One In Three Black People Aren’t Working…What a Shame
The first Friday of the month is a day when economists like me are riveted to the news. We want to know what’s up with the unemployment rate, and with the changes that have taken place in the last month. Last week, our nation learned that we treaded water. The unemployment rate remained at a high of 9.1 percent, 8 percent for white folks, and 16 percent for black folks. Some pundits were jazzed at the rates, thinking that they meant we are doing okay. What’s okay? The real unemployment rate for African Americans is close to thirty percent.
This means that a third of the black world is not working. This means that there are too many black folks who are tripping. This means that too many are managing pain. And with the Congress ignoring the reality, failing to offer the relief from the jobs bill, this means that nobody cares.
I hear from people all the time. Their stories are heart rendering. They talk bout the lives they once had, the lives the now have. Once upon a time, they had homes, mortgages, and opportunities. Now they have lost jobs, homes, and their opportunities have faced. They are the folks that stand in the middle of the statistics. We know the numbers, but we don’t know their pain.
The pain is more acute for African Americans than it is for others. President Obama has not fully addressed that, although his spirited anger at the recent Congressional Black Caucus dinner was a great step in the right direction. Still, I have to think that if there were a crisis in Appalachia or in New Mexico, there would be a more invigorated response. Instead, black folks are unemployed and nobody really cares.
Go to church and count it out. If there are three people huddled over water, one of them is unemployed. If there are three people passing out programs, one of them is unemployed. If there are three people, or four, or five, or six, this pox called unemployment has visited them. Who is he, who is she? Mother, father, brother. Sister, somebody who brought a quarter to the table, and the quarter isn’t there, not anymore.
In order to just stay even, our nation needs to generate 275,000 jobs each month. Last month, a month where some celebrated our “progress”, we generated just 103,000 jobs. We aren’t moving ahead, we are falling behind. Our reality is that the jobs market is broken and nobody wants to fix it.
Instead, we see a nation at political gridlock. The congressional republicans don’t want to pass the President’s jobs bill, and they have offered few alternatives. So we sit and wait to see if anyone will break the gridlock that keeps our legislators from moving forward. This is drama, it is trauma, it is bless you, mama, cause it is overtime for there to be some forward movement.
Perhaps this is not an issue for those whose constituency is enjoying a 9.1 percent unemployment rate. But there are too many who are experiencing much more than that. Throw a stone into the black community. See who it hits. It is one in three, one in three, one in three. What that means is that the pox called unemployment affects everyone. When the reality of worklessness hits so so many, the fact is that it affects us all.
The numbers come out every first Friday. The reality visits our community each and every day. One in three adult African Americans cannot find work. This is a depression level unemployment rate. People are hurting, but nobody really cares. One in three. One in three. One in three.
Julianne Malveaux is President of Bennett College for Women and author of Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History.
Last Word Productions, Inc. is a multimedia production company that serves as a vehicle for the work and products of Dr. Julianne Malveaux. For the last 15 years the company has centered its efforts on Dr. Malveaux’s public speaking appearances, her work as a broadcast and print journalist, and also as an author. Currently, Julianne Malveaux is President of Bennett College For Women in Greensboro, North Carolina and author of Surviving and Thriving: 365 Facts in Black Economic History.
I concur Julianne, but we also have to realize that the folks who do care are outnumbered by the folks who don’t care and by the folks who care but are too unorganized to make a difference.
Dr. Malveaux cares and I will continue to follow her articles on this subject that is so vital to the African American community. It is my hope and prayer, that Washington will recognize her brilliance and spot her out as a consultant on the issues and solutions on African American poverty and what to do about it.
Thank you Julianne for some real statistical truths. I have been looking for a job for months now. I wonder if being 53, African American and having a criminal record has anything or everything to do with my lack of success. It hurts and is discouraging. Every interview I go to I notice that there are plenty of hispanics working and the majority of the people interviewing me are white. What about me? I have children, a grandchild and all the other bills that everyone else has. What about us.
One more thing. I have paid yhe debt for my crime. Why do I always have to explain to perpective employers what happened. If nobody wants to hire me how can I elevate myself.. I believe they first don’t want to hire me because I am African American and having a criminal record gives them the perfect excuse. I have a BA degree, send thank you letters and interview well and I am still not being considered for positions
Find a temp agency in your neighborhood,what about a plasma center ? Set up a booth at a flea market. Self employment is the answer.
I live off 674 dollars a month. I drove a taxi for years. Someone threw hot grease on me in an attempt to rob and kill me. I was able to shoot and drive to the nearest hospital. I ended up at the burn center at at Grady Medical center. I have 2nd &3rd degree burns on the right side of my body. I want to work,write a book,be a motivational speaker,any got some ideas? I saw people die on the streets while I was homeless….it was a living night mare…
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