The African-American Labor Force in the Recovery
While the unemployment rate for African Americans fell substantially
in January to 13.6 percent, it remains significantly higher than the
8.5 percent rate of November 2007, just prior to the recession.
Aggregate numbers show that the African-American community as a whole
has exhibited poorer labor market outcomes than other races even prior
to the recession and during the recovery, demonstrating that they often
face different and greater challenges. By breaking down the data by
age, gender, education, and other criteria, this report examines in
greater detail the trends in employment and unemployment among African
Americans and shows how they have been faring in the economic recovery.
The "Looking Forward" section at the end of the report discusses the
President's 2013 Budget and highlights various ways in which Department
of Labor programs have helped to address the challenges faced by
African Americans in the labor market.
Blacks in the Labor Force at a Glance
African Americans made up 11.6 percent of the U.S. labor force — those employed or looking for work — in 2011.
1
African Americans have comprised a gradually growing share of the U.S.
labor force over time, rising from 10.9 percent in 1991. Overall, in
2011, 18 million Blacks were employed or looking for work, representing
61.4 percent of all African Americans, somewhat less than the 64.1
participation rate for all Americans.
In 2011, about half of Blacks aged 16 and older had a job, and 18.0 percent of those employed worked part-time.
2
Blacks are the only racial or ethnic group for whom women represent a
larger share of the employed than do men - more than half (53.8
percent) of employed Blacks in 2011 were women, compared to 46.0
percent among employed Whites. Nonetheless, employed black women still
earn less than employed black men - black women earn roughly $0.91 to
every dollar earned by black men. While the wage gap among Blacks is
smaller than that for Whites, this is largely driven by the fact that
African-American men face lower wages compared to men in other race
groups in the economy. Black men employed full time earned on average
$653 per week in 2011, 76.3 percent of the average salary earned by
white men. By contrast, black women earn on average $595 per week or
84.6 percent of the average salary earned by white women.
3
While the gap between black and white men fell substantially during
the 1990s due to increased occupational desegregation, in the last few
years the gap in earnings remained stable throughout the recent
recession and recovery period.
4
More than a quarter of employed black workers aged 25 or older have
earned a college degree, a share that exceeds that for Hispanics
5
but continues to trail that for Whites. While black workers continue to
trail Whites in educational attainment, the number of African
Americans with a college degree has been growing faster. In the past
decade, the number of black workers with a college degree has increased
by over a quarter, compared to a fifth among White workers.
Black workers are more likely to be employed in the public sector
than are either their white or Hispanic counterparts. In 2011, nearly 20
percent of employed Blacks worked for state, local, or federal
government compared to 14.2 percent of Whites and 10.4 percent of
Hispanics. Blacks are less likely than Hispanics and nearly as likely
as Whites to work in the private sector, not including the
self-employed.
6
Few Blacks are self-employed — only 3.8 percent reported being
self-employed in 2011 — making them almost half as likely to be
self-employed as Whites (7.2 percent).
The average unemployment rate for Blacks in 2011 was 15.8 percent,
compared to 7.9 percent for Whites, and 11.5 percent for Hispanics.
Historically, Blacks have had persistently higher unemployment rates
than the other major racial and ethnic groups. In addition, the increase
in the black unemployment rate during the recession was larger than
that for other races partly because workers with less education are
particularly hard hit during recessions. Moreover, the unemployment rate
for Blacks was slower to fall after the official end of the recession.
The slower recovery for African Americans in the labor market has been
partly the result of government layoffs after the official end of the
recession. Blacks have been more vulnerable to the drastic layoffs in
government in the past two years because they make up a
disproportionate share of public sector workers. Moreover, with the
exception of health and education, Blacks are under-represented in the
sectors that have experienced the greatest job growth during the
recovery, including manufacturing and professional and business
services.
In addition, once unemployed, Blacks are less likely to find jobs
and tend to stay unemployed for longer periods of time. Blacks remained
unemployed longer than Whites or Hispanics in 2011, with a median
duration of unemployment of 27.0 weeks (compared to 19.7 for Whites and
18.5 for Hispanics). Nearly half (49.5 percent) of all unemployed
Blacks were unemployed 27 weeks or longer in 2011, compared to 41.7
percent of unemployed Whites and 39.9 percent of unemployed Hispanics.
Once a worker is unemployed for a prolonged period, it becomes harder
to find a new job. Job search becomes harder for such an individual
because the worker may not have the networks of employed friends and
family to refer them to jobs and because they may become disconnected
and depressed the longer they remain unemployed.
7
Also, job search becomes more difficult without income support, as an
unemployed person may not have the resources to afford transportation,
seek information and even afford clothes for interviews.
8
Finally, as the pool of applicants grows larger, employers sometimes
use employment status, including unemployment duration, and credit
ratings as ways to screen out candidates even if these are poor screens
and these candidates may be qualified for the jobs.
9
Recently there have been some encouraging signs for African
Americans. The unemployment rate for Blacks has been trending down
since summer 2011. In January 2012, the unemployment rate for Blacks
was 13.6 percent; down 3.1 percentage points from the peak of 16.7
percent in August 2011.
10
Continuing employment gains in private sector health care jobs since
the end of the recession have helped to bring the unemployment rate
down for Blacks, as this industry has a large share of African-American
workers. Over the past year ending in January 2012, Blacks have seen
strong job growth in a diverse range of industries, including financial
activities, professional and business services, and education and
health services. African Americans are also benefiting from the slowing
pace of job losses in state and local government which have
disproportionately affected them.
Table 1: Unemployment, employment, and earnings characteristics by race and Hispanic ethnicity1, 2011 annual averages
| Characteristics of the employed |
Blacks
|
Whites
|
Hispanics
|
| % Employed (employment -population ratio among those 16 and older) |
51.7
|
59.4
|
58.9
|
| % Usually working part time |
18.0
|
19.9
|
18.9
|
| % Women (age 16 and older) |
53.8
|
46.0
|
40.6
|
| % College graduates (age 25 and older) |
26.5
|
36.8
|
16.7
|
| % Working in the private sector (wage and salary workers) |
76.9
|
78.5
|
83.7
|
| % Working in the public sector |
19.3
|
14.2
|
10.4
|
| % Self-employed (unincorporated)2 |
3.8
|
7.2
|
5.8
|
| Usual Median Weekly Earnings |
|
|
|
| Total |
$615
|
$775
|
$549
|
| Men |
$653
|
$856
|
$571
|
| Women |
$595
|
$703
|
$518
|
| Characteristics of the Unemployed |
|
|
|
| Unemployment rate |
15.8
|
7.9
|
11.5
|
| % Women (age 16 and older) |
46.9
|
43.0
|
41.9
|
| Median duration of unemployment in weeks |
27.0
|
19.7
|
18.5
|
| % Long-term unemployed (27 weeks or more) |
49.5
|
41.7
|
39.9
|
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Current Population Survey
1Persons whose ethnicity is identified as Hispanic or
Latino may be of any race. Those identified as white or black
includes those Hispanics who selected white or black when queried
about their race.
2Self-employed refer to self-employed workers whose businesses are unincorporated. |
Periods of High Unemployment
In January 2007, the year the recession began, the unemployment rate
for black workers was 7.9 percent, compared to 4.2 percent for Whites
and 5.8 percent for Hispanics. By January 2009, the unemployment rates
had climbed to 7.1 percent for Whites, 12.7 percent for Blacks and 10.0
percent for Hispanics. By the end of 2010, the unemployment rate for
Blacks had risen more than for either Whites or Hispanics.
Unemployment for the nation peaked at 10 percent in October 2009,
while the unemployment rate for Blacks continued to rise before peaking
at 16.7 percent in August 2011 (Chart 1). In comparison, the
unemployment rate for Whites peaked along with the national rate in
October 2009 at 9.3 percent. Hispanic unemployment peaked at 13.1
percent in November 2010.
Chart 1: Unemployment Rate for African Americans, Hispanics and Whites
(seasonally adjusted monthly data, January 2007 - January 2012)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
Chart 1: Text only
In recent months, there have been signs that African Americans have
begun to benefit from the nation's economic recovery. The national
unemployment rate in January 2012 was 8.3 percent, well below the
nation's average unemployment rate in 2010 of 9.6 percent. Although
their unemployment rate started to decline later, African Americans
also saw improvement over that time. The black unemployment rate in
January 2012 was 13.6 percent, down from the 2010 average of 16.0
percent, and a little lower than February 2009's rate of 13.7 percent.
Chart 2 shows the seasonally-adjusted monthly unemployment rate for
black men, women, and youth (aged 16-19). As shown in the chart, the
unemployment rate among adult black men (aged 20 and over) has risen
considerably more than for adult black women (aged 20 and over),
creating an unemployment rate gap that grew throughout the recession
and only narrowed in January 2012. In 2007, the unemployment rate gap
averaged 1.2 percentage points. By 2009, the average unemployment rate
gap between adult black men and women had expanded to 4.8 percentage
points, before narrowing slightly over the course of 2010 and 2011 to
3.5 percentage points. In January 2012, the gender unemployment gap
was virtually eliminated. Adult black men had an unemployment rate of
12.7 percent compared to a rate of 12.6 percent among adult black
women.
Chart 2: Unemployment Rate among Black Adult Men, Adult Women, and Youth
(seasonally adjusted monthly data, January 2007 - January 2012)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
Chart 2: Text only
Across all races and ethnic groups, the unemployment rate for youth
(aged 16-19) is much higher than that for adults. As Chart 2
illustrates, this is also true among Blacks. The unemployment rate for
black youth reached a high of 49.1 percent in November 2009 and as of
January 2012 had fallen to 38.5 percent. Not only has the unemployment
rate remained high, but a large number of black teens are no longer in
the labor force - either working or looking for work — which explains
some of the drop in the unemployment rate. In 2007, black teens
participated in the labor force at a rate of 30.3 percent. By 2011,
that rate had declined to 24.9 percent. Labor force participation of
black men and women aged 20-54 declined by 2.3 percentage points from
78.2 percent in 2007 to 75.9 percent in 2011, while participation among
older black workers (aged 55 and older) increased by 1.3 percentage
points — 35.3 percent in 2007 to 36.6 percent in 2011.
Some of this decline in labor force participation among black teens
indeed reflects an increase in the proportion of black teens enrolled
in school. Among 16-19 year-olds, 85.4 percent were enrolled in school
in October 2011, compared to 80.7 percent in 2007, the year the
recession began.
11
The rate of school enrollment also increased for Blacks aged 20-24. In
October 2011, 34.9 percent of this cohort was enrolled in school
compared to 32.8 percent in October 2007.
One factor that may partially explain why black labor force outcomes
lag behind those of their white counterparts is their lower educational
attainment. However, as Chart 3 illustrates, the role of education in
explaining the unemployment disparity faced by African Americans is
very complicated. African-American unemployment rates are higher than
those for Whites at every education level.
Despite racial difference in unemployment rates by education level,
the link between greater educational attainment and improved employment
outcomes remains strong for all racial and ethnic groups, including
African Americans. Additionally, the unemployment gap between Blacks
and Whites is smaller for those with more education. Unemployment rates
for African Americans were lowest among those who attained a bachelor's
degree or higher. For instance, Blacks with at least a bachelor's
degree had an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent (compared to 3.9 percent
for Whites) whereas Blacks with some college or an associate's degree
had an unemployment rate of 13.1 percent (compared to 7.0 percent for
Whites). Unemployment rates are higher for those with fewer years of
schooling. Blacks with only a high school diploma had an unemployment
rate of 15.5 percent (compared to 8.4 percent for Whites), and Blacks
with less than a high school diploma experienced a 24.6 percent
unemployment rate (compared to 12.7 percent for Whites with less than a
high school diploma).
Chart 3: Unemployment Rate for Blacks and Whites aged 25 and older, by Educational Attainment, 2011 Annual Average
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
Chart 3: Text only
Another factor that may explain some of the lag in labor force
outcomes for Blacks is that they are more likely to live in economically
depressed areas with fewer opportunities for employment. Living in
these areas means that Blacks live farther away from jobs and are
surrounded by other unemployed persons who are less likely to refer
them to jobs. Over the three years from 2008-2010, unemployed African
Americans were 60 percent more likely than non-Blacks to live in a
local area with double-digit unemployment rates (See table 2). African
Americans also have longer commute times than do non-Blacks, indicating
that they are less likely to find jobs near their homes. From
2008-2010, African Americans averaged commute times of 27.7 minutes
compared to 24.6 minutes among Whites. The difference remains even when
factoring in public transit usage. Additionally, African Americans
are more likely than Whites to face extreme commutes of over an hour
(10.3 percent vs. 7.3 percent).
12A
number of studies have found that weak and negative employment growth
in areas where Blacks reside and little access to jobs (as measured by
travel times) can explain part of the differences in the black-white
unemployment differential.
13
Table 2: Distribution of Unemployed by Local Area, averaged 2008-2010 estimates, in percentages
|
Black/African- American
|
Non-Black
|
| Share of Unemployed residing in Local Areas with unemployment rates of under 10 percent |
37.1
|
60.8
|
| Share of Unemployed residing in Local Areas with unemployment rates of 10 percent or greater |
62.9
|
39.2
|
| Share of Unemployed residing in Local Areas with unemployment rates of 20 percent or greater |
5.9
|
0.3
|
| Source:
American Community Survey, 2008-2010 Public Use Microdata Files.
Local area is defined as a Census Bureau Public Use Microdata Area
(PUMA). A PUMA is a statistical geographic area defined for the
tabulation and dissemination of decennial census PUMS and ACS data.
While variation in the physical size and shape of PUMAs may
complicate their use in defining local areas, this is the closest to a
definition of a local area one can construct given publicly
available data. Obtaining information for Census tracts requires
special permission from Census.
http://www.census.gov/geo/puma/puma2010.html. |
Unemployment varies across the United States and the unemployment
rate of Blacks, like that of other Americans, differs depending on the
state in which they live. Blacks face the highest unemployment rates
in Wisconsin (25.0 percent), Nevada (22.1), West Virginia (21.5),
Oregon (21.3) and New Mexico (20.8), while those facing the lowest
rates are in Utah (2.5), New Hampshire (8.7), Maryland (10.3), Alaska
(10.3) and Massachusetts (11.0).
The map at the end of this report highlights the states where the
largest numbers of unemployed black workers reside. As one would expect,
states with the largest black populations had very large numbers of
unemployed black workers. Overall in 2011, Florida (232,000), Georgia
(220,000), California (208,000), New York (207,000), and Texas
(192,000) had the most unemployed Blacks. The unemployment rates for
Blacks in these states were 17.1 percent (Florida), 15.8 percent
(Georgia), 19.6 percent (California), 13.8 percent (New York), and 13.4
percent (Texas)
Employment Data
As Chart 4 illustrates, 2011 employment rates for African-American
men and women, aged 20 and older, remain below pre-recession levels.
Overall, black men and white men are employed at higher rates than are
black women and white women. However, employment rates have fallen much
more sharply for men than for women in either racial group since the
2007-2009 recession began. In recent months, there have been signs of
improvement in employment rates for black men. The share of black men
with a job has risen from its May 2011 low of 56 percent to 59.7
percent in January 2012. That is the highest employment rate since
February 2009.
Chart 4: Employment to Population ratio by sex for Whites and Blacks, aged 20 and older
(seasonally adjusted, monthly data, January 2007 - January 2012)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey
Chart 4: Text only
During the deepest part of the downturn, black employment took the
largest hit in manufacturing, financial activities, education and
health services, transportation and warehousing, and construction.
Together these industries employed nearly 1 million fewer Blacks in
2009 than they did in 2007. The employment situation among African
Americans has improved in recent months. The number of employed
African Americans has risen by 700,000 over the year ending in January
2012. In that time growth was widespread, with financial activities
(+177,000), professional and business services (+160,000), and
education and health services (+106,000) accounting for the largest
gains. African Americans have also benefited from the slowing pace of
job losses among state and local governments. Public sector employment
trends are particularly important to Blacks as they are 30 percent more
likely than non-Blacks to work in that sector.
As Table 3 shows, employment in the health and social assistance
industry is projected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to grow by
3.0 percent annually on average between 2010 and 2020, resulting in
5.6 million additional jobs in this sector by 2020. Black workers are
in a good position to take advantage of many of the growing jobs in
this industry, particularly as home health care aides are expected to
grow by 69 percent by 2020. African Americans have a strong tradition
of working in the health and social assistance industry. In 2010, they
composed 16 percent of the industry's employment, well above their
share across the total economy.
A challenge will be to assist more African Americans to obtain
careers in the professional, scientific and technical services industry,
which is expected to grow by 2.1 million additional jobs from 2010 to
2020. In 2011, Blacks were under-represented in this industry,
comprising only 5.9 percent of these workers. In general, Blacks are
under-represented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical
(STEM) occupations accounting for about 8 percent or less of jobs in
computer and mathematical occupations (6.9 percent), life, physical,
and social science occupations (7.4 percent), and architecture and
engineering occupations (5.2 percent) in 2011.
Table 3: Industries with largest expected employment growth, BLS Employment Projections 2010-2020
| Industry |
Annual average rate of change 2010-20201
|
Blacks as a percent of total employed by industry in 20112
|
| Health and social assistance |
3.0%
|
16.0%
|
| Construction |
2.9%
|
8.4 %
|
| Professional, scientific and technical services |
2.6%
|
5.9%
|
| Education services |
2.3%
|
10.7%
|
| Total employment |
1.3%
|
10.8%
|
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
1Employment Projections presented here are based on Current Employment Statistics data.
The projections are found at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecopro.pdf.
Released February 1, 2012.
2These data are 2011 annual averages from the Current Population Survey. |
Occupational Safety and Health
The number of fatal injuries among black workers was down 9 percent
in 2010 after a decline of 21 percent in 2009, according to data from
the BLS.
14 15
Since 2007, fatal work injuries among black workers have declined by
more than a third (37 percent). While some of this decline is due to
fewer Blacks working compared to 2007, the positive trend holds even
when controlling for the decline in working hours. From 2007 to 2010,
the fatality rate among African Americans fell from 4.2 to 2.8 per
100,000 full-time equivalent workers. This exceeded the decline among
Whites and Hispanics in the same time period. Additionally, African
Americans had the lowest workplace fatality rate among those groups in
2010.
16
Black workers experience high numbers of non-fatal injuries and
illnesses in several occupations that are known to have high injury
rates including nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants;
non-construction laborers, and truck drivers.
17
In 2010, African Americans accounted for 12.0 percent of all private
sector nonfatal occupation injuries and illness that involved days away
from work.
18
That rate exceeded their prevalence among all private sector wage and
salary workers (10.6 percent). Despite being at high risk for
occupational injuries, the number of injuries and illnesses decreased 7
percent for black or African-American workers in 2010.
Looking Forward
The economic recovery to date has improved employment prospects for
all Americans. However, more needs to be done to get African Americans
back to work. The Department is working alongside other agencies,
including the Department of Education and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, in the Obama Administration to address the
challenging labor market conditions facing black workers. In
particular, the Department and other agencies introduced programs to
increase the skills of African Americans, encourage the creation of
jobs in sectors and areas that reach African-American workers, and
strengthen enforcement actions that address discriminatory practices.
Getting America Back to Work: The Department of
Labor is working to get America back to work by providing job seekers
with income support, employment services and the skills necessary to
land the good-paying jobs of the future and by linking employers
looking to hire with Americans looking to work.
- Between October 2010 and September 2011, nearly 3.7 million
participants served by the Department's Wagner-Peyser program, which
provides employment services, were African-American. This figure
represents approximately 19 percent of total participants served by this
program, which is greater than the African-American share of the
population.
- Of the 2.5 million Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult and
Dislocated Worker program participants who received staff-assisted
services from July 2010 through June 2011, more than 21 percent were
African-American. Of the 1,672,000 individuals who exited these
programs from April 2010 through March 2011 after receiving
staff-assisted services, over 340,000 were African-American. Of the
African Americans who exited these programs between October 2009 and
September 2010 and were unemployed when they entered the programs,
nearly half or 170,000 began employment within the quarter after
their exit.
- As of September 30, 2011, 34,558 African Americans have been
served by the Department's Community Based Job Training grants (nearly
16 percent of all 222,789 participants), and 23,636 African Americans
(25 percent of all 95,373 participants) have been served through the
Department's American Reinvestment and Recovery Act High Growth and
Emerging Industry grants.
- Between October 2010 and September 2011, the Department's Trade
Adjustment Assistance program served 196,020 U.S. workers impacted by
foreign trade; 31,167 (15 percent) of these participants were
African-American.
- The National Farmworker Jobs Program provides funding to
community-based organizations and public agencies to assist migrant and
seasonal farmworkers and their families attain greater economic
stability. Between July 2010 and June 2011, 1,114 (nearly 6 percent) of
the 18,920 participants were African-American.
- As of September 30, 2011, the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders
programs have assisted over 31,482 participants. Of these, 18,172 (58
percent) are African Americans.
- The Department's Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration (ETJD)
is designed to fund and rigorously test employment programs targeting
non-custodial parents and individuals recently released from prison.
Program services include academic and occupational skills assessments,
job training, and temporary subsidized employment (transitional jobs)
with active mentoring and oversight, followed by assistance in
obtaining and retaining unsubsidized jobs. Seven organizations were
competitively selected based on past experience in providing
transitional (subsidized) jobs and experience with their respective
target groups. The demonstration sites are located in urban areas with
large numbers of unemployed African Americans: New York City; Syracuse,
NY; Atlanta, GA; Ft. Worth, TX; Indianapolis, IN; Milwaukee, WI; and
San Francisco, CA. This demonstration began in late 2011 and is
scheduled to end in late 2014.
- The regular federal-state Unemployment Insurance system (UI)
served approximately 2.3 million African Americans (23.2 percent of all
9.9 million regular UI claimants) from October 2010 to September 2011.
- Approximately 1.1 million African Americans, 23.2 percent of all
4.7 million Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) claimants,
benefited from the extension of EUC benefits through the end of Fiscal
Year 2011. Close to 4 million EUC claimants (of which close to 1
million would be African-American) are projected to benefit from the
extension that was passed in February 2012.
- The Department's Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood
Partnerships has made a concerted effort to further extend programs and
opportunities to the African-American community through extensive
outreach to African-American communities and congregations. This
outreach has included a new project to work with faith-based and
community-based job clubs or career ministries that provide a range of
occupational and emotional supports to the unemployed, especially the
long-term unemployed. The Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood
Partnerships estimates that between 15% to 20% of these job clubs serve
African-American unemployed workers.
Investing Significantly in Employment Opportunities for African-American Youth:
- The WIA Youth program (for individuals aged 14 — 21) also
assisted African Americans by placing nearly 22,000 individuals into
employment or education programs between October 2009 and September
2010; the program served more than 93,000 African-American participants
(35 percent of all 263,000 participants) from July 2010 to June 2011.
- Programs such as YouthBuild and Job Corps are intended to provide
job training and educational opportunities for low-income at-risk
youth. As of September 2011, a total of 11,618 African-American youth
have been served in YouthBuild, representing nearly 55 percent of
program participants. From July 2010 to June 2011, 29,937 Jobs Corps
participants, over 50 percent of all participants served, were
African-American.
- Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Youth projects served 6,990
participants, of whom 71 percent were African-American, from July 2010
through June 2011.
Training African Americans for Jobs in High-Growth and Emerging Industries:
- Winners of recently announced grants to train workers for
good jobs in high-growth industries include historically black
colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other entities that have
historically served African Americans.
- In October 2011, the Urban League of Atlanta won a $4.5
million grant to train 125 workers for information technology (IT) jobs
in partnership with Clark Atlanta University (an HBCU) and a local IT
employer who has committed to hire every participant who completes the
training and obtains a credential.
- In September 2011, a consortium of 10 South Carolina
educational institutions, including Denmark Technical College (an
HBCU), won a grant of nearly $20 million to establish 37 new on-line
courses leading to industry-recognized credentials and degrees for
emerging technology-based jobs in key industries, including
manufacturing, engineering, industrial maintenance, and transportation
and logistics.
Providing For Your Family and Keeping What You Earn:
- In Fiscal Year 2011, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) collected
$224,844,870 in back wages for this nation's workers, which is the
largest amount collected in a single fiscal year in the Division's
history. These back wages, collected on behalf of 275,472 workers,
including almost 90,000 who had not been paid the minimum wage for all
of the hours they had worked, demonstrate that the WHD has become a
stronger, more effective law enforcement agency.
In Fiscal Year 2011, WHD collected over $52 million in back wages for
more than 98,000 employees in priority low-wage industries alone, which
employ significant proportions of vulnerable workers, including
African Americans. These industries include janitorial, health care,
agriculture, child care, restaurants, garment, hotel/motel, and
temporary help.
To achieve a more ongoing presence in communities with vulnerable
workers, WHD has also hired new Community Outreach and Resource
Planning Specialists (CORPS)to work in WHD District
Offices. These officers maintain lines of communication at the local
level; engage partners in dialogue about local industry practices and
labor concerns; provide training and resources to advocates and other
stakeholders on wage and hour laws; and provide recommendations to WHD
on how the Agency can better serve workers at the local level.
Enforcing Non-Discrimination Requirements:
- DOL's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
is responsible for enforcing affirmative action and
non-discrimination obligations of federal contractors and
subcontractors.19
Nearly one-in-four American workers is employed by a company that does
business with the Federal government, giving OFCCP a broad purview
to enforce equal employment opportunity laws across the American
labor force.
In Fiscal Year 2011, OFCCP successfully resolved 134 cases of
employment discrimination affecting women, minorities, people with
disabilities and protected veterans. In total, OFCCP negotiated over
$12 million in financial remedies for victims of discrimination and
recovered more than 1,400 potential job offers for affected workers.
Twenty-three cases specifically involved African Americans (up 44% from
last year) resulting in over $2 million in back pay (an increase of
33% over last year).
The President's 2013 Budget: The FY 2013 budget is
built around the idea that our country does best when everyone gets a
fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules. Because
unemployment among African Americans remains unacceptably high and to
provide security for African-American families, the President's 2013
Budget would:
- Invest in low-income youth and adults: The
President is proposing a new $12.5 billion Pathways Back to Work
Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and
adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in
growth industries
- Support for Summer and Year-Round Jobs for Youth: The
Recovery Act provided approximately 370,000 summer job
opportunities through the public workforce investment system to
young people in the summers of 2009 and 2010. Such programs not only
provided young people with their first paycheck, but taught them
life-long employment skills. Building on this success, the new
Pathways Back to Work Fund will provide states with support for
summer job programs for low-income youth in 2012, and year-round
employment for economically disadvantaged young adults. This is
particularly important for African-American youth who are
experiencing an unacceptably high rate of unemployment of over
40%.
- Targeting Low-Income, Long-Term Unemployed Adults: This
effort would connect the long-term unemployed, low-income adults
to subsidized employment and work-based training opportunities.
It builds off the successful TANF Emergency Contingency Fund wage
subsidy program that supported 260,000 jobs through the
recovery. This measure would be particularly helpful to
unemployed African Americans, nearly half (49.5 percent) of whom
have been unemployed for more than 27 weeks.
- Revitalize Distressed Urban Neighborhoods: The
President's 2013 Budget provides $150 million for the Choice
Neighborhoods initiative to continue transformative investments in
high-poverty neighborhoods where distressed HUD-assisted public
and privately owned housing is located, a $30 million increase
from the 2012 enacted level. The Budget would provide grants that
primarily fund the preservation, rehabilitation and transformation of
HUD-assisted public and privately-owned multifamily housing.
- Put People Back to Work Rehabilitating Homes, Businesses and Communities: The
President is proposing a $15 billion series of policies to help
connect Americans looking for work in distressed communities with
the work needed to re-purpose residential and commercial
properties, creating jobs and stabilizing neighborhoods. Known as
Project Rebuild, this approach will not only create construction jobs
for African Americans who were disproportionately affected by the
loss of jobs in the construction sector, but will help reduce
blight and crime and stabilize housing prices in areas hardest hit
by the housing crisis.
- Target Investments to Modernize Schools Serving Low-Income Students: The
President proposed a $30 billion investment in education
infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools
and community colleges — investments that will create jobs while
improving classrooms and upgrading our schools and community
colleges to meet 21st Century needs. Funds could be used for a
range of emergency repair and renovation projects, and modernization
efforts to build new science and computer labs and to upgrade
technology. These investments would not only help black workers
get back jobs in construction, but help African-American
communities get access to better education and help the next
generation of African-American workers.
- Prevent Layoffs of Teachers, Cops and Firefighters: The
President proposed to invest $30 billion to prevent layoffs of
teachers, while supporting the hiring and keeping of cops and
firefighters on the job. Resources to prevent additional layoffs in the
state and local government would be key to helping
African-American workers who are disproportionately employed in
the public sector and who have been hit hard by job losses in the
public sector.
- Extend Unemployment Insurance for the Long Term Unemployed: Unemployment
insurance for those unemployed over 27 weeks was initially
extended through February 2012 but was recently extended through
the rest of the year, which will help 1 million African Americans.
The new extension provides additional reemployment services to
the long-term unemployed, which is key for black unemployed
workers, of whom nearly half (49.5 percent) have been unemployed
for more than 27 weeks. This extension also provides funding for a
self-employment assistance program that would allow UI claimants to
start their own businesses while receiving UI benefits.
- Connect State and Community Colleges with Businesses:
The President proposed an $8 billion Community College to Career
Fund that will help forge new partnerships between community
colleges and businesses to train two million workers for
good-paying jobs in high-growth and high-demand industries and
build the skills of American workers.
Chart 5: Black Unemployment by State — 2011 Annual Averages
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, 2011 annual average data
*Due to small sample sizes, unemployment rates not available for: Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana.
Chart 5: Text only
Footnotes
1The Office of Management and Budget defines Black or
African American as an official racial category pertaining to persons
having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The terms
Black and African American are used interchangeably in this report.
Also, since 2003, BLS allows individuals to identify themselves as more
than one race. Persons who selected more than one race category are
not included in the employment and unemployment data for any single
racial category, but are included in the estimates of total US
employment and unemployment.
2BLS identifies part-time workers as those who usually worked 1 to 34 hours.
3While the black-white wage differences can be partly
explained by differences in the observable characteristics of different
workers, a substantial differential remains even if comparing
individuals with identical characteristics except for race. See, e.g.,
Joseph Altonji and Rebecca Blank (1999), "Race and Gender in the Labor
market,"
Handbook of Labor Economics, Vol 3C, pp. 3143-3259
and William Darity and Patrick L. Mason (1998), "Evidence on
Discrimination in Employment: Codes of Color, Codes of Gender,"
Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 12 (Spring), pp.63-90.
4For a discussion of how occupational shifts helped to
reduce wage gaps, see Kenneth Couch and Mary Daly (2002), "Black-White
Wage Inequality in the 1990s: A Decade of Progress,"
Economic Inquiry, 40(1): 31-41.
5Hispanics who select black or white when identifying race
are included in the black or white category as well as the Hispanic
category. Beginning with 1993, BLS data on Blacks refers to people who
solely identify as Black. People who respond as Black and another race —
white, Asian, Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian — are not reflected
in the "Black" data.
6Self-employed refer to self-employed workers whose businesses are unincorporated.
7See, e.g., Harry Holzer (1987), "Informal Job Search and Black Youth Unemployment,"
American Economic Review, 77(3): 446-452.
8See, e.g., Silvio Rendon (2007), "Does Wealth Explain Black-White Differences in Early Employment Careers?"
Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 25(4): 484-500.
9See, e.g., Adriana Kugler and Gilles Saint-Paul (2004),
"How do Firing Costs Affects Workers Flows in a World with Adverse
Selection?"
Journal of Labor Economics, 22(3): 553-584.
10In January of every year, BLS makes an adjustment to the
population control used for that year's estimates in the Current
Population Survey (CPS). This change complicates direct comparisons of
published data between years but not within a single year. However,
even after removing the effect of this population control change, the
unemployment rate for Blacks fell between December 2011 and January
2012.
11October data are used here because that is the month when
students are usually enrolled in school regardless of the type of
school or school calendar.
12Office of the Chief Economist calculations based on data
from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) 2008-2010
Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS).
13See, e.g., Steven Raphael (1998), "The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis and Black Youth Joblessness,"
Journal of Urban Economics, 43(1): 79-111 and Harry Holzer (1991), "The Spatial Mismatch Hypothesis: What Has the Evidence Shown?"
Urban Studies, 28(1): 105-122.
14Fatal injury data for 2010 are preliminary, while data for prior years are revised and final.
15Data presented here are for black non-Hispanics.
16http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfoi_rates_2010hb.pdf
17This is based upon those fatalities for which there is a
race or ethnicity reported. Race and Ethnicity is underreported for
many fatalities. Underreporting may bias estimates.
18This is based upon those nonfatal occupational injuries
and illnesses for which there is a race or ethnicity reported. Race
and Ethnicity was not reported for 34.8 percent of private sector
injures in 2010. Underreporting may bias estimates.
19In addition to OFCCP, other agencies outside of the
Department enforce non-discrimination requirements. Namely, the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for
enforcing federal laws that protect job applicants and employees from
discrimination because of the person's race or other characteristics or
because the person was involved in an employment discrimination
investigation or lawsuit.
