Job losses hit black men hardest
Some 8 percent of black men in the US have lost their jobs since November 2007, according to a recent study.
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer/ March 15, 2009 edition
and Yvonne Zipp | Correspondent
Reporter Patrik Jonsson discusses the conundrum over the nation's first African-american president and falling job numbers for black men in the current US economy.
Reporter Patrik Jonsson
At a time when America has elected its first black president, more African-American men are losing jobs than at any time since World War II.
No group has been hit harder by the downturn. Employment among black men has fallen 7.8 percent since November of 2007, according to a report by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.
The trend is intimately tied to education, the report’s authors say. Black women – who are twice as likely as black men to go to college – have faced no net job losses. By contrast, black men are disproportionately employed in those blue-collar jobs that have been most highly affected – think third shifts at rural manufacturing plants.
It threatens to add to the difficulties of vulnerable families in a community already beset by high incarceration rates and low graduation numbers.
Moreover, it puts renewed focus on the cultural and economic stereotypes of black women and men – mythologies and realities about the black family that remain challenging for the country, and Washington, to address.
In terms of job-loss rate for African-American men, “nothing comes close to this,” says Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies and an author of the report, noting that the job-loss rate for African-American men during the Great Depression is unknown.
Federal data indicate all demographic groups have been affected. The number of men looking for full-time work has nearly doubled in the last year, regardless of race or ethnicity, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures. But the Northeastern study concludes that during the past 15 months, “the relative decline in black male employment was considerably higher than that of their male counterparts in the other three race-ethnic groups” – Asians, Hispanics, and whites.
The job-loss figures come at a time when many lower-income black homeowners are already at risk of foreclosure. “They have zero opportunity to refinance or borrow in any way to get over the rough patch of unemployment,” writes Tom Hertz, a labor economist, in an e-mail.
The employment rate among African-American men aged 20 to 24 is now just 51 percent, as opposed to 68 percent during the late 1990s. For African-American teens, it’s just 14 percent.
“A lot of family heads are being affected and a lot of the young guys,” says Professor Sum of Northeastern. “When you get a job loss of that magnitude it’s just totally destructive [to] communities.”
Unemployed black men like Anthony Gilmore aren’t surprised by the findings. Laid off five months ago from a call center, Mr. Gilmore recently interviewed for a job detailing cars. A Hispanic man got the job.
The perception among many black men like Gilmore is that the economy has merely laid bare the historic prejudices that still exist.
“There’s still very much a system that really is designed to keep people at a disadvantage,” he said while waiting Friday outside an Atlanta unemployment office.
Yet black men can be bound as much by deeper labor trends as cultural stereotypes, says Peter Rachleff, a labor historian at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. Especially in the South, black men often pay a price for demanding workplace rights gained in the Civil Rights movement – demands for days off and being able to say no to overtime, for example. Hispanic workers, particularly, aren’t as likely to claim those rights, making them easier hires, says Professor Rachleff.
“You can call it a class thing, but I don’t think that’s what it is,” says Douglas Besharov, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland in College Park. “Some of it is long-term discrimination and lack of access to education, but much more in this recession it’s determined by which sector that’s suffering the most.”
From November of 2007, the month before the official start of the recession, to February of 2009, “there was no net job loss among professionals or managers,” says Sum.
Contradicting media reports that job loss has been widespread in this recession, he adds: “All the job loss has been among blue-collar jobs – construction, manufacturing, and retail.”
These are the jobs black men have long sought, settling for high-school diplomas in order to get these relatively well paid posts, suggests Terry Getter, an unemployed accountant waiting in line at the Atlanta unemployment office. But they are now feeling the consequences of not continuing their education.
African-American women have fared better in the downturn, says Sum. That may be partly because of their higher levels of education. In a departure from the trends of the past two recessions, those who have lost their jobs in this one “overwhelmingly … had 12 or less years of school,” he adds.
Correspondingly, his data suggest that, as of January, about 120 African-American women were employed for every 100 African-American men. “The current size of the overall gap in employment between black women and black men is historically unprecedented, and black Americans are the only group for whom the gender employment gap is in favor of women,” the report notes.
As a result, the onus for the community’s well-being has fallen primarily on women, adding more burdens to a group that, historically, has upheld the black family, says Sheri Parks, author of the upcoming book “Fierce Angels” about the role of strong black women in American culture.
Part of the reason, she says, is that black communities have historically protected young men and expected more of young women, particularly when it comes to schooling. “If you’re a black woman, you don’t have to convince someone that you’re strong and nurturing and able to do almost anything – it’s almost a brand,” says Ms. Parks. “The prevalent image of a black man is what we call hyper-masculine and often idealized, but not necessarily in the workplace.”
This means black women also tend to enter their job hunt with a greater sense of urgency, says Tim Ready, director of the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.
“Women are more likely to take whatever jobs are necessary because they end up being the primary caretakers for kids,” he says. “They have no choice.”
At a time when Mr. Obama’s election has encouraged a debate about what race means in modern America, the job-loss figures reveal enduring problems that remain unaddressed, say some.
“When we say ‘postracial,’ we focus a lot on ideas, attitudes, and identity and not on outcomes: jobs, wages, and those things,” says Steven Pitts, a policy analyst with the Center for Labor Research and Education in Berkeley, Calif. “It’s important to look at the question of how we are passing out resources, jobs, education, wages, and wealth. That’s how you begin your analysis on postrace.”
( More stories )
Comments
2. hnglo12@yahoo.com | 03.16.09
Another way to make black women look down on her black counterpart. To elevate black women above the black men takes away his manhood and white america seems to know this. The black woman doesn’t see this as a threat because their making the money needed to support the family but to her man,
he’s been lowered in his eyes to second class. This makes it much eaiser for the black woman to turn to the white man for comfort all the while ignoring the fact her man being unemployed is by design. WAKE-UP black women and see what we your black men are seeing.
3. Sundiii | 03.16.09
How can anyone not want all people on earth to own all things??? That is the real question. How did anyone ever think it was right to let a few rich people own all things & “create jobs” & pay low wages (which is slavery because they don’t own anything from the work they do) & then to increase profits the rich owners automate all the work??! We need SOCIALISM where all people own all things, & we need to eliminate all the work, & if the wage doesn’t exist that won’t leave anyone starving like capitalism does! And we need to save the earth by telling all people to work part-time building only 100-story tower cities connected to mag-lev trains worldwide. That’s the only way we can save the earth & end all wars AND end world poverty, which is what any sane person should want.
4. Roberto | 03.16.09
Its not all about racism. I’m a supervisor at at an aluminum foundry, and the fact is that white and hispanic men are usually harder workers. When its time to lay people off you cut the weakest links.
5. Blackandgoldone | 03.16.09
The article mentions Obama. Obama is not a proxy for Black men
in America. Racism, to the extent that it is a cause of the
high rate of unemployment among African American men is explicitly
tied to physical appearance. There is always going to be
more discrimination against the Wesley Snipes looking men than
against the Harold Ford Jr. looking men ; regardless of level
of education and motivation.
6. this study was past due, but right on time. I find it sad and shameful but very informative and is an extremely important topic to discuss being that we live in a country willing to allow illegal immigration than promote employment of its citezens that wa | 03.16.09
csmonitor
7. Louweegie272 | 03.16.09
One of the consequences of having so many illegal Immigrant workers in the workforce is that they are taking jobs from American Citizens like Anthony Gilmore. Our Senators here in California as well as the Mayors of Los Ageles and San Francisco oppose using E Verify to make sure that companies hire American Citizens.
8. Ben, MBA, Hispanic | 03.18.09
When many members of a race continually blame racial prejudice for their problems when many of the members have lower education rates, weaker work ethic, and deliberately choose to use slang (vice educated English); I see no reason they should expect anything other than to be fired first and hired last. Many blacks are smart and articulate (i.e. President Obama); however, statistically they are a much smaller minority of the ethnic group than for Asians. Anyone thinking they are discriminated against, should first do a frank self-assessment because more often than not personal inadequacies are at least a part, and likely the majority, of the problem.
A Hispanic or black who walks into an interview without great qualifications or who acts like a thug should not expect to be hired. Maybe Gilmore is neither, but it is more likely the Hispanic was hired due to better qualifications, better interview, or better recommendations than due to racial considerations. In this economy supervisors have a great incentive to hire the best & most flexible workers.
9. Johnnie Mae Barmore | 03.20.09
Racism is a fact of life, and racism by Blacks agaainst Blacks is problematic as well. We as individuals and as a community have to focus on how to navigate a racist society and teach our young Back children how to do so. If we wait for society to change before we change then there will never be any improvement.
10. Sarah | 03.21.09
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Sarah
11. Jsens3 | 03.21.09
This is complicated. I offer the following thoughs that I have had since I heard Candidate Obama speak about racial issues.
For years blacks have pointed out the lingering effects of slavery on the black family.
In one sense this does not seem to be true. Histories abound of blacks who risked their lives to escape from slavery to free states and at immense effort bought their families’ freedom so they could be together. Such dedication to family seems at odds with the current trends of the explosion of single family households and out of wedlock births.
However, President Obama presents evidence that the legacy of slavery may be as bad as many have urged. President Obama’s father, who abandoned him and his mother, may have been callous and irresponsible, but he was never a slave; President Obama was reared by a white mother and grandmother and imbued with cultural values that prized education and the equality of all. His mother got him up at 4 a.m. to prepare for school. He is a Harvard Law School graduate, editor of the Law Review no less, and in fact seems never to have been subjected to lingering effects of slavery as has been on much of the black population. In contrast to some, he has never attempted to make non-black people feel guilty for being who they are. He has stayed on the higher ground appealing to all members of society to join together. The last election proves he convinced the majority of Americans that he understands many sides to problems.
If President Obama’s father has been an embittered victim of the residue of slavery and had lived with him and his mother, perhaps the president would not be where he is now.
12. tc | 03.22.09
there’s always going to be losers-black men.
if every american had a degree in highly valued fields…there’s only so many jobs or resources to match demand in any economic situation.
therefore the less desirable black man would be a qualifed loser.
i thank God they can’t take salvation from me.
13. callaspadeaspade | 04.30.09
Wow, some of these comments appear biased in and of itself. I could only imagine the viewpoints of the hiring and firing personnel, who are predominantly white.
14. Erob 227 | 05.02.09
There is this assertion that racism does not exist for African-American men looking for work. It is asserted that if they had better skills, dressed better, spoke the king’s English… Falsehood. Some employers are making value judgments about Black men based on negative stereotypes, racial prejudice, and ignorance.
It used to be that people would say that Blacks don’t want to work. We now find that it is quite difficult for Black men to find work. Some have criticized Black men saying that they are not willing to take care of their families. It makes it very difficult to work two jobs to take care of those you love, when you can”t even get one.
Some college degreed African-Americans still find racism in Human Resources a hinderance to gainful employment.
15. Swaine, MBA, African American | 05.06.09
Ive read the majority of posts to capture a sense of what-is-being-said! I can say with absolute certainty that racism plays a major part of organizations. Let me explain something to you. I am very articulate and focused african American professional in the field of human resources. I also know, for a fact, and through feedback from interviewers that I am very intimidating. I speak correctly, without ahhs and umms, can answer ANY questions and explain my purpose and goals without missing a beat. My interviewers look at me as though I am “causing internal conflict” within them….because I DO NOT validate their stereotype.
Human Resources is so important to an organization because this person can see “who is being hired” and for “how much” and for “how long”. I am also certified and trained in OFCCP audits and analysis. What is my point. I’m very educated and a threat to the culture of many organizations.
I conducted a test while interviewing. I acted like a GAY black man at my first interview and WOW….I went to a fifth and sixth interview before someone else ‘white” was selected who has a Bachelors and no experience.
The bottom line is this. We do not all WEAR our pants down, or show up to work late, or have an attitude. The system is designed to trust “women”, whites and hispanics…….before a black man.
16. Shakaama Live | 08.18.09
I love how white people defend themselves by putting down Black people in the process. “it’s because they’re not educated.” Perhaps you didn’t read the story, Black men are disproportionately overrepresented in the manufacturing fields, the industry hardest hit in this recession. These are long time workers that are being laid off, not recent hirees. In New York city the unemployment rate amongst Black men is 50%. There is no possible way that such a number can be reach purely by coincidence.
I have nearly two advanced degrees and was the first to be let go at my job. Showed up on time, never late from brakes, kept all my accounts in order, worked overtime when asked, articulate, educated and got along with employees. “you’re not working out”. That’s curious! Yet they kept white employees that cursed out clients, showed up late, downloaded porn. Oh and did I mention, it wasn’t the first job I was fired from. In fact I’ve been fired from about 5 jobs. Each time they just “didn’t work out”. And, this is after working in the firms for 3 years or more.
At first I thought it was me. Clearly I’m doing something wrong. But as I research this topic, I see it’s widespread.
The answer is don’t go to a white person looking for a job. That’s mistake number 1. Start your own business and if parts of your family have to work to support the business, so be it, but have your own business. That is the only way we can get out of this racial discrimination that is so widespread yet unspoken. Build your business and build your assets and leave your children all of it and instill in them the understanding that this needs to be done generation after generation.
Why look to man, which is fallible.
17. Chris | 08.30.09
I am a black man, a dark black man, I graduated high school, went on to college and graduated with an AA and a BFA, I m married with 3 kids and unemployed for 7 months now. Its not education, its alot deeper then that!
18. Tim, MBA, Blackman | 09.24.09
Ben,
I particpate in NSHMBA and I am apalled as an MBA how little you know about civil rights in the United States. Perhaps you should speak to Hispanic men in Brownsville from the 60s and 70s to learn a bit more. Better yet try Arizona right now. Also to correct you in one area African-American men
graduate from high school, college, and MBA programs in higher percentages than Hispanic men in the U.S.and yet have a higher unemployment rate between the ages of 19 to 25. Go figure! It is not education alone that is the problem, nor is it the swagger. Can you figure out what it is?
19. randal | 11.06.09
people slop blaming others and start doing positive things
nation have so much hate against there fellow americans a shame!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
3. Anderson Cooper 360: Blog Archive - How the recession is affecting racial diversity in the workplace « - Blogs from CNN.com | 03.17.09
7. That Minority Thing » Blog Archive » President Obama’s Success Mask Economic Tragedies for Black Men | 03.19.09
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Jacquesoseslur5 | 03.15.09
Coming from a family of African-Americans, I believe there are other reasons more of us are becoming unemployed. I don’t think that it’s just from discrimination. I have a great job and I had to go to college to get it. I had a lot of will as a child and was determined to be in the best position I could be in and I never got discriminated against.
My cousins really never worried about that type of stuff and chose to slack off in school. They wanted to live there life. Currently their unemployed because of this. We can’t blame that on discrimination it’s just that it was how they chose to live. Of course theirs nothing wrong with that because people may live how ever they’d like no matter what race.