Anderson@Large

Black Male Joblessness

A new report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers found that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act “was responsible for 2.2 to 2.8 million jobs through the first quarter of 2010.”

In a statement, Vice President Joe Biden said:

Bolstering the purchasing power of middle class families through Recovery Act tax relief and financial assistance hasn’t just helped the hardest-hit among us – it’s also created over 1 million good American jobs. From tax cuts to construction projects, the Recovery Act is firing on all cylinders when it comes to creating jobs and putting Americans back to work.

When the Recovery Act was signed, the black male unemployment rate was 17.9 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the jobless rate for black men was 20.2 percent in March.

An investigation by City Limits looked at the impact of stimulus spending on reducing black unemployment. Prof. C. Nicole Mason, executive director of the Women of Color Policy Network, told the magazine:

I don’t think there was enough understanding of what was going on in communities of color. I don’t think that happened on the first go-round. In the first stimulus bill they targeted construction, infrastructure. If you looked, you saw right away that blacks were underrepresented in those industries. And black- and Latino-owned firms have received disproportionately small shares of stimulus work.

Mason added:

I don’t think we can cut the unemployment rate in half without addressing some of the structural, historical barriers. There’s just no way around it. We really just have to roll up our sleeves and say, “What is going on here that’s different than the general population?” It’s not just that people aren’t building houses anymore. It’s a longer, more insidious problem that we haven’t had the opportunity to address. Maybe now we do.

Tonight at 6 p.m., City Limits and Medgar Evers College Male Development & Empowerment Center are sponsoring a town hall forum on black male joblessness.

The discussion will focus on the challenges and, more important, the solutions. The forum will be held at Medgar Evers College, 1650 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn.

For info, send an email to: events@citylimits.org.

The Recovery Act: One Year Later

Today marks the one year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. President Barack Obama will commemorate the milestone with remarks on the economy later this morning.

In the meantime, Obama has dispatched administration officials to over 35 communities across the country “to survey Recovery Act progress to-date and continue the Administration’s push for additional job creation measures to put more people back to work.”

In his report to the President, Vice President Joe Biden says “approximately 2 million jobs have been created or saved thanks to the Act’s impact on hiring in the private sector, by local and state governments and by non-profits.”

Nearly departed Sen. Evan Bayh isn’t as sanguine. When asked about his future plans, Bayh said:

If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six months.

Bayh’s parting shot must hurt, but his view is shared by 94 percent of Americans. A CBS News/New York Times poll found that only six percent of Americans think the stimulus package has created any jobs.

Job creation, or more accurately, joblessness is a sore point for African Americans. A new report from the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, “ARRA and the Economic Crisis: One Year Later,” found the impact of stimulus spending is even. The Recovery Act has had mixed results in assisting those most impacted by the Great Recession:

White unemployment has started to decrease (from a peak of 9.4% in October 2009 to 8.7% in January 2010), while Black unemployment rates continues to rise (from 15.5% to 16.5% during the same time period).

ARRA has done little for minority business enterprises’ bottom line:

Contracting and procurement are the primary ways ARRA can directly benefit private businesses and employers. Minority and disadvantaged business contracting is a critical source of job and wealth creation for marginalized groups and communities. Many concerns have been raised about the ability of minority firms to successfully compete for contracts. Although consistent state level data on ARRA contracting to minority firms is not widely available, figures from federal procurement indicate troubling and disparate contracting patterns. While Black‐, Latino‐, and Women‐ owned businesses represent 5.2%, 6.8%, and 28.2% of all businesses respectively, as of February 1, 2010, they had only received 1.1%, 1.6%, and 2.4% of all federally contracted ARRA funds.13 Of the $45 billion in direct federal contracts allocated by February 1st 2010, less than $2.4 billion (5% of the total) were allocated to Black‐, Latino‐, and Women‐ owned businesses.

So on the first anniversary of the Recovery Act, black folks are more likely to pop a gasket than pop a cork.

Stimulating Debate

With unemployment rising, a debate is underway about the effectiveness of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package.

Republicans have seized on the jobless recovery to chip away at Obama’s job approval, particularly among independent voters.

To be sure, Republican criticism is the same old, same old.

Speaking before the Thinking Big, Thinking Forward conference in February, Pulitzer Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman observed:

Republicans oppose government spending as a response to the crisis. They fear that people will start to think good things about government spending.

Still, the stimulus plan has raised voters’ concerns about government spending.

But Krugman says a second stimulus is needed:

And that’s what the Obama administration should be doing right now with its fiscal stimulus. (It’s important to remember that the stimulus was necessary because the Fed, having cut rates all the way to zero, has run out of ammunition to fight this slump.) That is, policy makers should stay calm in the face of disappointing early results, recognizing that the plan will take time to deliver its full benefit. But they should also be prepared to add to the stimulus now that it’s clear that the first round wasn’t big enough.

Krugman continued:

But there’s a difference between defending what you’ve done so far and being defensive. It was disturbing when President Obama walked back Mr. Biden’s admission that the administration “misread” the economy, declaring that “there’s nothing we would have done differently.” There was a whiff of the Bush infallibility complex in that remark, a hint that the current administration might share some of its predecessor’s inability to admit mistakes. And that’s an attitude neither Mr. Obama nor the country can afford.

What Mr. Obama needs to do is level with the American people. He needs to admit that he may not have done enough on the first try. He needs to remind the country that he’s trying to steer the country through a severe economic storm, and that some course adjustments — including, quite possibly, another round of stimulus — may be necessary.

With African Americans bearing the brunt of the recession, it may be necessary for black leaders to weigh in on the debate.

Stimulus Do-Over?

With the nation in the grip of a jobless recovery, a second stimulus package may be on the way. In an interview with Fox News, President Barack Obama said:

I don’t take anything off the table when unemployment is close to 10% and a lot of Americans are hurting out there.

It drives me nuts when Obama talks about the specter of double-digit unemployment. An awful lot of African Americans are hurting right now. Ten percent unemployment would be a welcome change.

While a second stimulus package would give Obama an opportunity to get it right, it would be a tough road to hoe. A Rasmussen poll found that 60 percent of Americans oppose a second stimulus.

Still, Obama is beginning to own the recession. A new Quinnipiac poll of Ohio voters shows that 48 percent disapprove of the way he is handling the economy.

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said:

The economy in Ohio is as bad as anywhere in America. These numbers indicate that for the first time voters have decided that President Barack Obama bears some responsibility for their problems.

Until now voters have given President Obama high ratings on the economy, blaming former President George W. Bush for their problems. They might be taking out their frustration on President Obama, possibly deciding that the change he promised has not come as quickly as they expected.

The poll numbers got the White House’s attention. So on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden will be in Ohio, where he “will discuss how the Recovery Act is building a 21st-century economy in Cincinnati and across the nation.”

Hmm. What would it take for Biden to go to, say, Detroit, where the black middle class is in freefall?

Biden is in charge of the White House Middle Class Task Force. So, he can discuss what the Obama administration is doing to help the black middle class avoid “downward mobility.”

Black Folks Must Make Some Noise

In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Vice President Joe Biden said the White House “misread the economy”:

The truth is, there was a misreading of just how bad an economy we inherited. Now, that doesn’t – I’m not – it’s now our responsibility. So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we’re in? And we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we’re in.

The stimulus plan is clearly not the right package for African Americans.

When President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the national black unemployment rate was 13.4 percent. Today, it’s 14.7 percent, down from 14.9 percent in May.

But less is more. The Center for American Progress notes:

African-American and Hispanic workers saw their unemployment rates fall slightly last month, but this was associated with a decline in labor force participation so this is more an indication of how challenging the labor market is rather than a sign of improved employment opportunities.

During two separate press conferences, Obama was asked about the need for “specific policies” to address joblessness in the African American community. Both times he failed to answer the question.

Prof. Boyce Watkins recently wrote:

Obama’s apparent lack of desire to create targeted policies for African Americans is driven by the fact that we “gave it up” without critically analyzing or challenging his commitment to our issues. No other candidate could have gotten away with this. Our commitment to political style over substance is similar to materialistic distractions toward “blinging, balling, flossing and shining” which led many of us into bankruptcy. I say this as a supporter of Obama, but also as a man who’d like to see him do more.

Watkins continued:

I watched President Obama give one of the most uncomfortable press conferences he’s ever had to deliver to the American people...

When asked about the black unemployment issue by American Radio Network’s April Ryan, Obama had to do a difficult dance. In light of the country’s impatience, this was no time for America’s first black president to actually be a black president. Obama took the question in stride, explaining that the best thing he can do for black people is to help the entire economy. He also succumbed to the fact that African American unemployment is traditionally much higher - nearly double - that of whites.

The problem for President Obama is that his response to the reporter was not only a recording of answers he’s given in prior venues; it also shows no desire to dig to the root of economic inequality. If we improve white unemployment to, say, 5%, Obama’s statement effectively argues that it’s ok for black unemployment to be at 10% (which is higher than the national unemployment rate right now, during one of the greatest recessions in American history).

But it’s not OK.

It’s time for black folks to make some noise.

From ‘Shovel-Ready’ to Spend, Already

A little over 100 days ago, President Barack Obama promised the American people the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will “save or create more than 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.”

Obama signed the Recovery Act into law on Feb. 17, 2009. Since then, 1.6 million Americans have lost their jobs. The unemployment rate is at its highest level in 26 years.

There is increased skepticism about the impact of the stimulus plan. A new Gallup poll found that 55 percent approve of the way Obama is handling the economy, down from 59 percent in February.

So, yesterday, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced the administration is ramping up implementation of the stimulus plan. The “Roadmap to Recovery” is “a summer initiative designed to accelerate the Administration’s recovery efforts.”

The Administration’s focus has shifted from funding “shovel-ready” projects to spending the money now.

Obama gave Cabinet secretaries their marching orders:

So I’m pleased to know that having put the infrastructure in place, having gotten your teams up and running, many of the criteria by which money is going out in a responsible way that protects taxpayers, having been created, now we’re in a position to really accelerate.

And so the goal here is that we’re going to create or save 600,000 jobs over the next 100 days. Joe highlighted some of the specific commitments that we’re making to keep the recovery moving forward: keeping teachers in the classroom, cops on the streets, providing summer jobs for youth that are particularly hard-hit in this job market, breaking ground on hundreds of new projects all across the country in clean energy and transportation, and so on.

The White House’s summer initiative is far from a “summer of love,” but, hey, it’s music to the ears of the millions of jobless Americans.

‘Signs of Hope’ amid Jobless Recovery

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the national unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent in May, the highest level since August 1983.

The unemployment rate for African Americans was 14.9 percent, a slight decrease from April. But as my friend Sophia Nelson notes, “black unemployment is always higher no matter what and for black males it is over 40% in some cities like NYC.”

Indeed, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, chair of the Joint Economic Committee, released this statement in reaction to the employment situation for African Americans:

The economy shed jobs at nearly half the pace of the past six months, which is an encouraging sign that the worst may be behind us. We are starting to see indications of economic progress as the recovery package begins to take hold across the country. But the rising unemployment rate in the African American community is a sobering reminder that we still have a long way to go to put people back to work and help families regain economic security.

Some quick facts from the May Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• The unemployment rate for African American workers is now at 14.9 percent, up 6.0 percentage points from the start of the recession in December 2007.
• The share of African Americans with a job has dropped 4.2 percentage points over the recession to 53.6 percent. The last time the employment to population ratio for African Americans was this low was August 1986.
• The unemployment rate for African American males 20 and over is 16.8 percent, 8.6 percentage points higher than at the start of the recession. This means that 1 in 6 African American men, age 20 or over, is unemployed and actively searching for work. African American men are more likely to be unemployed for a longer period of time. The median duration of unemployment for African American men is 19.8 weeks, much higher than the median duration of 15.0 weeks for white men.
• The unemployment rate for African American women age 20 and over has risen 4.1 percentage points since the start of the recession to 11.2 percent.
• Unemployment among minority teens is especially high–2 in 5 African American teens are unemployed, along with 1 in 3 Hispanic teens. That compares with 1 in 5 for white teens.

Still, Vice President Joe Biden sees “signs of hope.” In remarks on the economy, Biden observed:

But there’s also some signs of hope today in the report, and a few signs that our actions to get this economy back on track are beginning to make some difference.

Biden went on:

And I’m pleased that today’s report shows some signs -- some signs that all this activity is having this desired impact…And so there is some direct signs that what we’re doing is having an impact.

OK, Joe, if you say so.

But “signs of hope” don’t pay the rent, mortgage or loan modification. And they sure don’t put food on the table or get you a ride on the New York City subway.