However, as jobless rates are beginning to level off nation-wide, unemployment for black men is still rising. The Problem is that even before the recession began, black men were already struggling. The recession has brought necessary attention to their plight, but has only exacerbated the situation. From the Kalamazoo Gazette:
As the grip of the recession eases, U.S. unemployment has leveled off at 9.7 percent for the past three months. But unemployment among black males hit a record 19 percent in March. And in Michigan, the 2009 jobless rate was worse than one in four for the black male population: 26 percent."One of the hard realities is, whether you are being released from work like myself, or you've been just getting out of prison, the situation is pretty much the same," Beattie said. "As far as looking for a job, you're a black male."
Beattie, 53, got cut by his longtime employer in January 2009, a year when office furniture sales plunged more than 30 percent industrywide.
"I was one of the folks they didn't want to let go," he said. "Prejudice didn't have anything to do with it."
But once he joined the swelling crowd of jobless, the search quickly turned sour.
"The pool is large, and the opportunities are starting to shrink, especially for someone who was not a majority class. When you're in an employers' market, folks are going to go for the known."
Nationwide, men of all races have borne the brunt of the recession. Since 2007, four of every five jobs lost were from male-dominated categories.
"It has affected men more than women, dramatically more so," labor analyst Jason Palmer said. "And it's affected black men more than white men. A lot of jobs that were lost were tough, lower-skilled jobs."
Read the full Article: http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/04/unemployment_climbs_among_blac.html
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