State of Black America

National Urban League releases study on the State of Black America -

According to the National Urban League’s annual State of Black America report, chronic unemployment in minority communities is nearly double the rate of joblessness among whites.  The report found that in addition to the economic gap – or perhaps as a result of it – Blacks also lag behind in the areas of education, home ownership and social justice. The organization’s president, along with other Black leaders, warn that if the nation fails to immediately address the issue of jobs, minorities will fall even further behind.

“Unemployment among African Americans is 15.8% and 42% for African American teens as we approach the summer months,” National Urban League CEO Marc Morial notes. “Government must act now because many Americans can no longer wait while Washington drags its feet and offers up lukewarm solutions to this burning crisis.”

The State of Black America report measures disparities between whites, African Americans, and for the first-time, Hispanics, in economics, education, health, civic engagement and social justice. Compared to whites (the baseline at 100%), Hispanics have an overall equity index of 75.5% – faring better than Blacks with an overall equality index of 71.8 percent.

According to the report, unemployment among Blacks was 14.8 percent in 2009, compared to 8.5 percent for whites and 12.1 percent for Hispanics. The report also showed a striking disparity in real median household income between whites and minorities. The 2009 real median income was $34,218 for blacks, $37,913 for Hispanics and $55,530 for whites.

Titled State of Black America Report 2010/Jobs: Responding to the Crisis, the 151-page study was unveiled on March 24th in Washington, D.C. The report comes just weeks after comes Morial, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous and other Black leaders met with President Barack Obama to urge action to assist people living in urban and rural areas. The timing also coincides with the National Urban League’s push for a so-called “jobs surge” to address the unemployment crisis.

“Washington’s political leaders were quick to respond with drastic “troop surges” when things appeared to be going badly in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Morial writes in his monthly To Be Equal column. “For months, the National Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other civil rights leaders have been calling for a similar “jobs surge” to turn the tide on the unemployment crisis that has been especially damaging to Black America.”

Although Congress recently passed a $38-billion jobs bill, Morial charges that the measure falls “woefully short of what is needed to put substantial numbers of Americans back to work.” The measure mainly provides tax breaks and other incentives to encourage the business sector to begin hiring again. Morial argues that more direct action is needed.

Morial used the release of the State of Black America report to encourage the nation’s lawmakers to act quickly in support of the National Urban League’s Plan for Creating Jobs. The plan would invest $168-billion over the next two years in direct job creation, job training, an expanded Youth Summer Jobs Program, improved access to credit for small businesses and additional counseling relief for homeowners facing foreclosure. The plan also suggests tax incentives for clean energy equipment manufacturers who employ people in targeted communities. The National Urban League, which also announced its “I am Empowered” initiative, announced a goal of access to all Americans to a quality job with a living wage and benefits by 2025.

Despite the passage of a historic health care reform bill, the State of Black America shows that health disparities remain a problem in our country. Nearly 20% of African Americans lack health insurance compared to 11% of whites. The numbers are worse for Hispanics at nearly 33%.

In terms of education, whites are more than one-and-a-half times as likely as African Americans to have a college degree, and twice as likely as Hispanics.

“…Education is the civil rights issue of our time,” the report says. “The average Black child is two or three grade levels behind the average white child, about half of Black students fail to graduate on time and only one in five blacks has a bachelor’s degree.”

In terms of home ownership, fewer than 50% of Black and Hispanic families owned their own home, compared to 75% of white families who are homeowners.

Another startling statistic was the large disparity between the incarceration rates of Blacks, Hispanics and whites. Blacks are six times more likely and Hispanics are three times more likely than whites to be incarcerated, according to the study.

Morial says tackling these disparities in minority communities will help not only Blacks and Hispanics, but will help all of America. Priority number one is jobs.

“What’s important now is that the nation embrace the idea why closing those gaps is not only good for African Americans but also good for the nation at large,” Morial told CNN immediately following the report’s release. “When we have unemployed people, we also have people who could be contributing to the overall economy. That’s why we strongly support a robust jobs initiative by the president and Congress. Our report includes six recommendations in that regard and we’re going to be pushing that report over the next several months.”