Free Republic

Last week's column discussed the political trade-offs made by black politicians and civil rights organizations that condemn whole generations of black youngsters to failing schools (http://tinyurl.com/6mmlsf). Similar political trade-offs in labor markets condemn many blacks, particularly black youths, to high rates of unemployment and reduced economic opportunities. Let's look at this, starting with a few historical facts. Today white teen unemployment is about 20 percent, while that for blacks is about 40 percent and more than 50 percent in some cities. In 1948, the unemployment rate of black 16-year-old and 17-year-old males was 9.4 percent, while that of whites was...

The 50 year anniversary of Martin Luther King's march on Washington is causing a lot of people in my generation to reminisce. In doing so, it is hard not to be struck by two puzzling facts: (a) the fall of racial barriers to success almost everywhere and (b) the lack of economic progress in the black community as a whole, relative to whites. On the one hand, it would seem that a black in America can achieve almost anything, even being elected president of the United States. On the other hand, if we compare the economic condition of blacks and...

“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.” ~ Abraham Lincoln ~Phony Government Statistics, Detroit and Black Americans- By: Larry Walker II -One way the federal government could help reduce Black-on-Black crime and address the nation’s poverty crisis would be to start telling the truth about unemployment. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes a set of completely phony statistics each and every month, in order to convince the public that our economic condition is...

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's failed job policies are facing bitter criticism from African-American leaders who say black unemployment has grown worse under his presidency. After four years of holding their tongues and remaining quiet in the face of sharply rising black unemployment and record poverty, political leaders from the Congressional Black Caucus to the NAACP have begun to open fire on the White House. Obama won 96 percent of the black vote in 2008 and about the same percentage in 2012, despite a worsening jobless crisis among African-Americans. At 14 percent for adults and 43.1 percent for 16-to-19-year-old teenagers, blacks...

US Labor Secretary just bounced into studio with a big smile. Handed out candy to reporters. Loves job numbers Link to photo.

ut the past two years have made one thing clear: Ronald Reagan was a far better friend to black Americans than Barack Obama has been. Just compare the Reagan and Obama records. Under Obama, black unemployment rose from 12.6 percent in January 2009 to 16.0 percent today. This means that black unemployment has increased by more than one-fourth since Obama took office. And the Reagan record? African-American columnist Joseph Perkins has studied the effects of Reaganomics on black America. He found that, after the Reagan tax cuts gained traction, African-American unemployment fell from 19.5 percent in 1983 to 11.4 percent...

The unemployment rate for blacks fell more than 2 percentage points last month to its lowest level since March 2009. The drop puzzled economists, who cautioned that it's too early to say that a job market recovery for blacks is underway. The rate for African-Americans didn't budge at all in 2011, ending the year at 15.8%. The overall unemployment rate fell nearly a percentage point last year. But even at 13.6% for January, the unemployment rate for blacks is still far higher than the rate for other racial and ethnic groups, as well as the nation as a whole. The...

African Americans have staged a rally in Washington to protest against socioeconomic disparities in the US and failures to provide jobs to the black communities. Members of the New Black Panther Party and the Black is Back coalition converged in a neighborhood in DC's Southeast quadrant for a National Day of Action, demanding attention to inequalities in education, housing and healthcare, a Press TV correspondent reported on Monday. Protesters were particularly outraged by US President Barack Obama's failure to address the black communities' problems as figures show black unemployment hovers at staggering 16 percent nationwide. "I'm very angry and disappointed...

April 18 — Some Washington policymakers say marriage can get women out of poverty and off welfare. But for black women, a new study suggests that may be complicated by a difficult fact — employment of the men they're most likely to marry has slipped for the last 20 years, leaving fewer and fewer potential breadwinners. Only 52 percent of young, less-educated black men — ages 16 to 24 with a high school education or less — are employed now, compared to 62 percent 20 years ago, according to a new report by Paul Offner and Harry Holzer of the...