Research
Supports
Black
Americans'
Perception
of Job Bias
Experts, studies, labor data indicate
whites still have advantages
By Dana Wilkie
i
n 1963, near the apex of the civil
rights movement, almost three of
every four black Americans believed that whites had a better
chance at a job than they did.
That sentiment has changed in the
past fve decades, but in the opinion of
some, it hasn't changed enough.
Today, three out of fve black
Americans feel the same way, according
to a Gallup poll released in late August
2013 on the 50th anniversary of the
March on Washington and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream"
speech.
"Fifty years after Martin Luther
King's landmark speech on racial
equality, many blacks—in some cases, a
majority—feel that blacks do not have
equality with whites in matters of jobs,
education, and housing," wrote Gallup
researchers, who polled 1,001 black
Americans by telephone from Aug.
9-22, 2013.
Are black Americans justifed in
believing they're at such a disadvantage?
"The answer is absolutely yes," said
Darrick Hamilton, associate professor
of economics and urban policy at The
New School in New York City. "The
continued perception of racial bias in
employment is consistent with labor
market realities."
The Gallup poll found that 60
percent of blacks in the U.S. believe
that whites have an advantage at getting
jobs for which they're qualifed. In
1963, 74 percent of blacks thought that
whites had better employment chances,
according to the Gallup researchers.
many blacks ... feel that blacks
do not have equality with whites
in matters of jobs, education,
and housing," wrote Gallup
researchers...
In a speech during anniversary celebrations, President Barack Obama told
Americans that the unemployment rate
28 Diversity Employers | DiversityEmployers.com | First Semester December 2013
of blacks was twice that of whites.He
wasn't far off.
In 1963 the unemployment rate
for all Americans was 5.7 percent; for
blacks it was 10.8 percent, according
to the U.S. Labor Department. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
reported that in August 2013 the
overall black unemployment rate was
13 percent, compared with 6.4 percent
for whites and an overall national rate
of 7.3 percent.
A 2013 report from Brandeis
University's Institute on Assets and
Social Policy revealed that the median
net worth of white households was
$265,000 in 2009, while the median
net worth of black households was
$28,500."The conventional wisdom
is that when the unemployment rate
reaches around 8 percent the nation
is in an economic crisis," Hamilton
said. "Over the past 40 years, since
unemployment data has been routinely
reported by race, there has been only one
year in which the black unemployment