David Sessions

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Young Blacks Face Unemployment Rates More Than Triple the National Average

Posted:

11/24/09

Filed Under:Economy, Race

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Unemployment for 16-24-year-old black men was 34.5 percent in October, as high as it was during the Great Depression, the Washington Post reports. Young black women face similarly bleak employment numbers: 24.5 percent of them currently do not have jobs. Combined, young blacks have an unemployment rate of 30.5 percent, also equaling Depression-era numbers.

Employment status for young blacks statistically seems to be more affected by their race than their education or previous employment and income. Statistics from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University show that lower-middle-class white teens have an easier time finding jobs than upper-middle-class black teens. Even African-Americans with college degrees have a jobless rate double that of their white peers.

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David Sessions

David Sessions is a journalist based in New York who covers politics, religion, and the arts. He is the founding editor of patrolmag.com. ...more

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Comments (60)

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pattongoo

11:11AM Nov 24th 2009

Yea, and their crime rate is 10 times the national adv.

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(25)

pattongoo

11:15AM Nov 24th 2009

Yea, and the first song they should listen too is Sanford and Son.

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(2)

john black

11:46AM Nov 24th 2009

That's because we don't listen to dixie in our neighborhood while we salute the rebel flag.

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(-14)

S Rogers

11:59AM Nov 24th 2009

john black - Perhaps that attitude is why so many blacks are unemployed. In your face tude doesn't work when you are the one asking for a job.
If young people of any race are having trouble finding a job, I suggest the military, it's pulled a lot of us up by our bootstraps.

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(19)

ssgoodluck

11:17AM Nov 24th 2009

Even African-Americans with college degrees have a jobless rate double that of their white peers.
That is no surprise, with the first Afro-American president in the history of the United States, they deserve even more preferential treatment. Little doubt in my mind they make that fact known all to clear, all too often. . . . .

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(13)

Old Engineer

8:22AM Nov 25th 2009

I am puzzled why voting patterns in predominantly-black districts are so consistently and overwhelmingly Democrat, when it is abundantly clear after more than half a century of Democratic domination of urban politics, people of color have been kept more dependent than ever on handouts. True progress will come when small businesses can operate in urban communities, operated and owned by local residents and providing payrolls to be taxed.
But that's not allowed on the ACORN plantation, I guess.

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(6)

Charles Queen

11:17AM Nov 24th 2009

I'm noot being racist but I am being realistic.How about if they don't count all of the ones that live in ineer city's and everywhere else that prefer selling drugs and gangbanging as to working?That is a tremeandous amount of people if one could add up all of the numbers.If you don't count them then it drops significantly

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(25)

carl22grant

11:27AM Nov 24th 2009

Kind of sad when a minority in the US represents around 15% of the population, BUT, but committ 60% of the crimes. Blacks in America need to stop listening to Jesse Jackson, Sharpton, Wright, Gates, and the rest and instead focus on being Americans rather than Black Americans; a big difference. The doors of opportunity are there, but a negative, "you owe me" attitude will NOT get you through the door!

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(43)

john black

11:33AM Nov 24th 2009

I 'll make you a deal. We'll do that if you quit listen to Rush Limbaugh, Fox news and your "Lord and savior" Czar Glen Beck.

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(-28)

S Rogers

11:42AM Nov 24th 2009

Many young blacks have trouble finding work due to several issues; dress, language, attitude, and interviewing skills. Gangster and rap may be popular in the hood but if I am screening an employee it is not going to be my first choice. It is also much more difficult to terminate a black employee if things don't work out. Why take a chance on a discrimination suit if you don't have to? Unfortunately a lot of this has escalated by poverty pimps like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and reinforced by organizations like ACORN.

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(40)

john black

12:15PM Nov 24th 2009

Another reason why Blacks don't have jobs is because of money grubbing company owners. Let's go back about say 25 years. When illegal migrant workers started coming across the border. The greedy business owners saw a chance to get cheap labor. So gradually they started hiring them. After all they could pay them below minimum wage no benefits and save a bundle. Gradually more and more companies started doing this. Now 25 years later you got more illegals over here than you care to count. If you had never given them a job in the first place do you think we would have this many of them over here now? No because they are not lazy or stupid. They are going to go where the work is. If there were no jobs here they wouldn't be here in the first place. And now you are saying that it is wrong for them to have health care. Well on that I agree with you. And there are no provisions in this health care bill that allows this. But greedy companies created this mess and now they have to live with it. But while you thought you were working them they were also working you. By having children knowing that they would be naturalize citizens free of deportation. I guess yawl didn't think that far ahead So now they are all over here with kids they have to take care of too. I am not opposed to anybody working because they have families to support just like you and me. But it is these greedy business owners that are solely responsible for this problem.

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biz1914man

11:52AM Nov 24th 2009

Like I said look at all these racist, hateful comments. Let's see whites with less education, from lower income families get jobs over more educated blacks from middle class backgrounds. How do you get lazy and gangbanger from these secnarios? Too many idiots in this country and Pres Obama lost the white vote. So please don't use his presidency as proof that a large portion of white America is not bigoted. Still a bunch of God hating rednecks making hiring decisions. You have to hate God to think your better than what God has made. So keep making your stereotypical cowardly comments as to why their are too many bigots in managerial positions.

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(-22)

beckjr2000

12:05PM Nov 24th 2009

Yes, you've made you position and response quite clear. Elequently put. Who would want someone like you representing their business to the public.

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(21)

rovpoolman

3:04PM Nov 24th 2009

You have it all backwards,ask the fire fighters who passed exam but could not get pay raises and promotions because no blacks passed.

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(9)

biz1914man

11:56AM Nov 24th 2009

Also these attacks on gangster rap are way too lame. More white teens listen to gangster rap than black teens. These white girls love gangster rap and I'm sure you chumps pretend like you get Jay Z's music and others to look cool in their eyes. Don't be Mad because your own women think your lame and whack. lol

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(-18)

JRLD prn LLC

12:07PM Nov 24th 2009

I am sorry for ALL UNEMPLOYMENT however , how does a caucasian supposed to feel when his wife is out of work for three years. All the jobs in healthcare for insurance and clericals my wife applies for go to blacks . In Charlotte N.C. that's the way it is. The hospitals won't hire a white woman but they will hire a black woman. And she's highly skilled. We have essentially a "closed shop" in much of the two hospital chains in Charlotte and the surrounding area. If you are black , you get the job. Sorry, but it's true.

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(24)

rovpoolman

12:15PM Nov 24th 2009

john black out using that race card again, you are a single thought little person.
Personal responsibly, self respect, the will power to get back up after you fail is all lost when you hold out your hand and say “take from those that work and give to me”. I am lazy, stupid or don’t care to better myself “take from those that work and give to me”.
Abraham Lincoln was a Republican and the KKK was started by Democrats, so I guess the KKK still has some people under their control.
!.7 million in DC to protest out of control spending and the race card is played yet again. “Take from those that work and give to me”.
Obuma is called a lair and the race card is played yet again. “Take from those that work and give to me”.
When you can’t win on facts, use the race card. “Take from those that work and give to me”.

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(10)

john black

12:37PM Nov 24th 2009

You are very narrow minded. Why is it that people like you believe that all people out of a job and Black people on welfare are shiftless lazy and stupid? There are young people in my area right now that are responsible people who really and sincerely trying hard to make a decent life for themselves. Contrary to what you want to believe not all Black people in this group are like that.

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(-7)

S Rogers

12:19PM Nov 24th 2009

biz1914- I would not hire those white kids either. Why would I want some kid working for me who thinks rapping about offing a cop, demeaning women or using the n word is cool. If someone who enjoys that type of music or thinks it is an asset happens to be in a position to hire someone who worships gangster or rap, so be it.
As for the voters, given the fact that something on the order of 99% of blacks voted for Obama it would seem to scream of racial bias on the part of blacks. Sadly, many of these voters did not even know his platform but only that he was black. To me that makes them not only an ignorant voter but a racist. If 99% of whites had voted for McCain, many would be saying it was racially motivated. Given the statistics, one would have to conclude that blacks come across as the racist in the last election?

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(13)

shanajohari

12:21PM Nov 24th 2009

So many of the comments that have been made are exactly the reason why we have this problem. Racism. You have proved it is alive and thriving! Never once in the 8 years that George Bush was president did I disrespect him or his position. Regardless of the fact that I thought he did a HORRIBLE job! The "disrespectful, country hating" teens that you're referring to FEEL you. They know you despise them, their music, their clothes, and their existence. They know you don't care if they find success or fail. And just so you know their failure IS your concern...unless you live in a bubble. The more kids that fail (race NOT important)the more crime we will have. What good does it do you to work hard, educate your kids,and buy a security system for your home if some kid who knows you probably ALREADY despise them shoots you in a parking lot for $10 so they can buy food?

PS. We listen to Sharpton and Jackson because we identify with the anger and disappointment. Anger fueled by comments like Pattongoo and disappointment fueled by ssgoodluck! Who would you have us listen to? Limbaugh?
I AM African American, educated, and employed!

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