Unemployment Rate Among African-Americans Still High

A meeting held by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee in July analyzed the state of the American economy. Some discussions held at the meeting touched on the high unemployment rate among Blacks and Hispanics.

African-Americans face a lot of problems in this country. Not only are they discriminated against by the justice system and the police, even prospective employers also discriminate against us. Some studies have revealed that a Black person with the same qualifications as his/her white counterpart applying for a job is more than 50% more likely to lose it to the white fellow.

Discriminatory hiring practices are a major contribution to the highest unemployment rate among African-American graduates in the U.S.

A report released by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee saw the national unemployment rates of African Americans rise from 8.4% in March 2007 to 8.6% in 2016. The FOMC views this as a good sign, as the unemployment rates of African Americans have remained relatively unchanged.

This shouldn’t be the case because, after the recession, the American economy has seen a noticeable improvement. Between June and July, the unemployment rate of white Americans dropped from 4.3% to 3.8%. The fact that African-Americans still top the unemployment list is nothing to celebrate. The stats show that even now there is discrimination in the labor market.

The high unemployment rate is a major reason for the incredibly low standard of living of among African-Americans. The FOMC can’t be complacent in making policies concerning the unemployment of African-Americans, because if the statistics are anything to go by, they have not improved anything.

The Black-American deserves an equal opportunity on the labor market. The discrepancy between the economic development of the whites and Blacks is too wide and steps must be taken to eliminate this inequality in the system. The Black-American is equally entitled to a good standard of living.

Source: Aflcio

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