In metropolitan areas across the United States, the unemployment rate for African Americans and Hispanics approached Great Depression-like levels in 2009, an Economic Policy Institute analysis finds. Issued Tuesday, the report, Uneven Pain: Unemployment by Metro Area and Race by EPI researcher Algernon Austin, examines unemployment by race in the 50 largest metro areas in the United States.
The national average unemployment rate in 2009 was 9.3 percent, while in Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington the black unemployment rates were 20.9 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively. The unemployment rate for whites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro was 6.6 percent – well below the national average.
The report found that the unemployment gap holds even where black and white populations both are high school educated. In 2008 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro, African Americans with a high school diploma or GED were three times as likely to be unemployed as whites with the same level of education.
"It’s generally assumed that the more educated a population, the lower their unemployment rate. But the disparity we are seeing here cannot be explained by the so-called achievement gap," said Kris Jacobs, Executive Director of JOBS NOW Coalition, a St. Paul based, statewide workforce policy coalition.
“We are seeing equally-educated persons without equal rates of employment. We also know that people can only apply their job skills where jobs exist. We need jobs now, for all Minnesotans.”
U.S. Senator Al Franken, D-Minn., has introduced a bill in Congress to offer a wage subsidy to help small- and medium-sized businesses and non-profits create jobs quickly. The bill, called the SEED Act (Strengthening our Economy through Employment and Development), is based on a successful model used in Minnesota from 1983 to 1987 that created 7,400 jobs in its first six months.
The latest Job Vacancy Survey from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development shows that in the Twin Cities Metro Region, 113,000 unemployed workers are competing for 15,000 unfilled jobs. This means that job seekers outnumber job openings by more than 7-to-1.
For more information
Uneven Pain Report
Franken Jobs Bill
Minnesota Job Vacancy Survey
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In metropolitan areas across the United States, the unemployment rate for African Americans and Hispanics approached Great Depression-like levels in 2009, an Economic Policy Institute analysis finds. Issued Tuesday, the report, Uneven Pain: Unemployment by Metro Area and Race by EPI researcher Algernon Austin, examines unemployment by race in the 50 largest metro areas in the United States.
The national average unemployment rate in 2009 was 9.3 percent, while in Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington the black unemployment rates were 20.9 percent and 20.4 percent, respectively. The unemployment rate for whites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro was 6.6 percent – well below the national average.
The report found that the unemployment gap holds even where black and white populations both are high school educated. In 2008 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington metro, African Americans with a high school diploma or GED were three times as likely to be unemployed as whites with the same level of education.
"It’s generally assumed that the more educated a population, the lower their unemployment rate. But the disparity we are seeing here cannot be explained by the so-called achievement gap," said Kris Jacobs, Executive Director of JOBS NOW Coalition, a St. Paul based, statewide workforce policy coalition.
“We are seeing equally-educated persons without equal rates of employment. We also know that people can only apply their job skills where jobs exist. We need jobs now, for all Minnesotans.”
U.S. Senator Al Franken, D-Minn., has introduced a bill in Congress to offer a wage subsidy to help small- and medium-sized businesses and non-profits create jobs quickly. The bill, called the SEED Act (Strengthening our Economy through Employment and Development), is based on a successful model used in Minnesota from 1983 to 1987 that created 7,400 jobs in its first six months.
The latest Job Vacancy Survey from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development shows that in the Twin Cities Metro Region, 113,000 unemployed workers are competing for 15,000 unfilled jobs. This means that job seekers outnumber job openings by more than 7-to-1.
For more information
Uneven Pain Report