Minority unemployment numbers

I am in countdown mode.

Each year we countdown to our birthday, to Christmas, graduation and even the New Year; this year, I am counting down to Black History Month! Celebrated in the shortest month of the year, through many toils and snares, Black America has a lot to be excited for, and a lot to worry about.

While some black people are celebrating many triumphs, victories and even firsts, it would be remiss of me to fail to highlight something that is obviously being swept under the rug - right in our face: the startling unemployment rate, in our own backyard!

Growing up, my parents along with other community leaders insisted that the best way to get ahead was by obtaining a college degree. While I do not contest their argument, I do question why there is a significant amount of blacks, with a college degree, are unemployed.

Each month, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics provide data on how well or poor America stands in the job market. The latest figures clearly represent a disproportionate number in the amount of blacks and Hispanics looking for work. These numbers have reached double-digit in the minority communities, and it appears that no one is talking about it. While I do not expect the federal government to be the problem solver to all problems, I would expect them to at least highlight and address the discrepancies.

Take a look for yourself:

	Sept 2009	Oct 2009	Nov 2009
Whites	9.0%	9.5%	9.3%
Blacks	15.4%	15.7%	15.6%
Hispanics	12.7%	13.1%	12.7%

72,300 (and growing) *knockout*

If you have been following the weather, you will know that there is a little ice on the roadways here in Texas and a lot worse up north. Well, yesterday morning, I woke up around 7:15 and turned on the television to see if our university was closed for work. Expecting to get back in the bed, I went to our universities’ webpage and sure enough – nothing was cancelled. My immediate reaction was “Damn, every other school is out.” Then, I was quickly reminded of a headline that I watched on CNN the day prior that read “72,300 lost jobs in 1 day”. Then yesterday, I read that another 8,000 jobs were cut. Hundreds of thousands of people have no source of income. These thoughts alone forced me to quit the complaining and get ready for work. I even messed up trimming my mustache.

The situation of people losing their jobs is turning from a recession to a depression. Businesses from Texas Instrument, Target, Home Depot to Microsoft… just to name a cutting back as consumer confidence is slashed. The economy is failing at a fast pace, there’s a mortgage crisis, from Wall Street to Main Street… this is bad, y’all. Now, I’m listening to reporters say that the situations are going to become bleaker before the healing starts. There are already millions of workers without employment. This will create an uphill challenge for them to find work. I’m not an economist, but no source of income equates to less money being spent to stimulate the economy – which further increases the number of companies forced to lay people off and more homes foreclosed.

Let’s be prayerful for those who are just graduating college seeking employment and those who were laid off.

*knockout*