The three charts at the end of this post from the Bureau of Labor Statistics should be cause for concern.
They show the unemployment rates for Blacks (African-Americans), all teens, and African-American teens during the past 10 years.
Each low unemployment-rate point achieved in 2000, when the overall unemployment rate reached its low point of 3.8%, was much lower than it is currently. Specifically:
- The Black/African American unemployment rate is 1.5% point higher (8.5% currently, 7.0% in April 2000). The percentage of African-Americans who are unemployed is still 21% higher (8.5/7.0) than it was at its low point in 2000.
- The teen unemployment rate is 3.4% point higher (15.7% currently, 12.3% in June 2000). The percentage of teens who are unemployed is still 28% higher (15.7/12.3) than it was at its low point in 2000.
- The Black/African American teen unemployment rate is 10.4% point higher (30.4% currently, 20.0% in April 2000). The percentage of African-American teens who are unemployed is still 52% higher (30.4/20.0) than it was at its low point in 2000.
If the 2007 unemployment rates in the these categories were the same as they were in 2000, the overall unemployment rate would be about 0.3% lower, and much closer to its 2000 low.
But why are the three unemployment rates just cited so much higher? What is present in 2007 that wasn't present in 2000?
How about perhaps 3.5 million or more (using a conservative estimate of 500,000 per year) additional low-skilled illegal workers who have entered the country since then, taking jobs away from relatively lower-skilled African-Americans and definitely lower-skilled teens -- jobs that African-Americans and teens could have and would have done?
Where are African-American politicians, and where is the self-described civil rights community, on this? As far as I can tell, totally AWOL. American Thinker letter writer James Bailey concurs:
Where are the African American Protests? Where are the outraged Black Leaders? Where is the Congressional Black Caucus?
Now that Democrats have gained power, look at how they treat their loyal constituents. First, they passed their "Keep labor so expensive that Inner City Youths will never get a job" law, I think they deceptively labeled it raising the minimum wage. And now, the Democrats are moving on to their "Give all those jobs to Foreigners" law. This doozy is called "Immigration Reform".
Democrats are condemning those who are still trapped in the ghetto to never get a chance to get out. Doomed to perpetual reliance on Democrats for hand-outs. Yet there is not a single peep of protest.
Meanwhile, Hispanic Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson opposes the immigration bill because he's "against the fence." ANY fence?
Additionally, why isn't Old Media harping on the African-American unemployment disparities, as it did throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s?
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The red boxes in each chart indicate the low point for each category during the last 10 years, all of which occurred in the second quarter of 2000.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
