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African-American unemployment reaches record highs

While high unemployment is affecting all sectors of the population in this tough economy, African-Americans are by far the hardest-hit demographic. Nationally, black unemployment reached 16.7 percent last month – the highest level since 1984 – even as the jobless rate for whites fell to 8 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

To make matters worse, racial bias is still very much a reality when it comes to hiring, particularly for African-American men, research suggests. A recent report by the Economic Policy Institute concluded employer discrimination was the only convincing explanation for why black men are underrepresented in high-wage jobs. In 2008, black men earned just 70 percent of what white men earned, the report said.

Middle-class African-Americans also took a huge step backward during the most recent recession, experts say. In particular, recent job cuts at the state and local government levels, while appearing to be race-neutral, have eliminated a huge entrée into the middle class for the black workforce, experts said.

The public sector is the place where people of color and women have been able to get in the door and get promoted, and gain seniority, status and income. Nj.com

HIGHLIGHTS
Leading up to the recession, the public sector was the leading employer of black men and the second-leading employer of black women, hiring 18 percent and 23 percent of those populations, respectively. University of California, Berkeley

In the long run, these cuts will also mean fewer public services and resources for minorities, leading to more racial inequality and higher poverty rates, experts predicted. For the rest of the state, that could translate into tax hikes. Nj.com

Black unemployment in New Jersey surged to 15.1 percent last year, compared with 8.7 percent for whites and 9.3 percent for the total population. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

FACTS & FIGURES
Among African-Americans, the underemployment rate was running just under 25 percent late last year (2010), according to an analysis of government data by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. That compared to a rate of about 15 percent for white Americans. The Huffington Post

The income gap between black and white families is also significant. In 2005, employed blacks earned only 65% of the wages of whites. Bureau of Labor Statistics

The poverty rate among single-parent black families was 39.5% in 2005. George Mason University

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