[Regardless of whether economic conditions are good or bad, Black
jobseekers are less likely to find work.]
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60 YEARS OF NO PROGRESS ON BLACK-WHITE UNEMPLOYMENT EQUITY  
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Algernon Austin
February 1, 2023
CEPR
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_ Regardless of whether economic conditions are good or bad, Black
jobseekers are less likely to find work. _

, CEPR

 

_60 YEARS OF NO PROGRESS ON BLACK-WHITE UNEMPLOYMENT EQUITY_

_By Algernon Austin_

_Center for Economic and Policy Research_

_February 1, 2023_

_https://cepr.net/60-years-of-no-progress-on-black-white-unemployment-eq…
[[link removed]]_

Regardless of whether economic conditions are good or bad, Black
jobseekers are less likely to find work. From 1963 to 2022, the Black
unemployment rate has been roughly twice the White unemployment rate.
There have been times when the Black-to-White unemployment-rate ratio
was somewhat higher and times when it was somewhat lower, but the
average of the ratios over this period is 2.1. This means that, if one
looks at the unemployment-rate ratio alone, there has been no progress
in providing equal employment opportunity for African Americans over
the last 59 years. The last Congress did nothing to directly address
this disparity, so there is no reason to expect it to narrow this
year. 

Anti-Black discrimination in hiring plays a major role in this
permanent inequality. The strongest evidence for discrimination can be
found in field experiments where researchers have Black and White
“testers” apply for jobs presenting similar qualifications or
where they send out similar resumes with stereotypically “Black”
and “White” names. A meta-analysis of 28 of these experiments
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period found consistent discrimination against Black applicants. There
need to be stronger anti-discrimination policies and enforcement if
the United States hopes to have equal opportunity in employment for
all.

Another helpful policy would be a targeted federal program for
subsidized employment. Joblessness can be concentrated in segregated
and disadvantaged Black communities. For example, in the third quarter
of last year the White unemployment rate in the District of Columbia
was only 1.5 percent
[[link removed]].
The Black unemployment rate, however, was 10.1 percent
[[link removed]].
One way to move toward employment equity in the District of Columbia
would be to target a subsidized employment program to the Black
section of the city. If policymakers create a national subsidized
employment program targeted to disadvantaged communities, it can help
achieve full employment for all
[[link removed]] regardless of race,
gender, or region.

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WHEN THE WPA CREATED OVER 400,000 JOBS FOR BLACK WORKERS
_By Algernon Austin_

_Center for Economic and Policy Research_

_February 9, 2023_

_https://cepr.net/when-the-wpa-created-over-400000-jobs-for-black-worker…
[[link removed]]_

In response to the Great Depression, the Works Progress Administration
(WPA) created jobs for over 8 million people
[[link removed]] between 1935 and 1943. While
data on the racial composition of WPA workers isn’t available for
all of these years, the data we have for 1939, 1941, and 1942 make
clear that the WPA employed hundreds of thousands of Black workers. At
its peak in 1939, the WPA employed over 400,000 Black men and women
(FIGURE A) who accounted for one of every seven WPA workers (FIGURE
B). These approximately 400,000 jobs would be equivalent to roughly
1.4 million jobs in today’s larger labor force.

The WPA shows that the federal government can provide subsidized
employment for a large number of individuals doing all types of work.
The WPA was involved in a wide variety of construction projects,
including building roads, airports, housing, sewers, and parks.
Although most of the work was in construction, the WPA also supported
manufacturing, service work, recreation, and the arts. Not only did
Black workers participate in the wide range of work supported by the
WPA, a portion of WPA funds was spent on building or repairing
segregated Black schools, colleges, hospitals, and public housing. The
WPA also funded Black scholars doing research on Black history, and
the work of Black artists.

The United States during the 1930s and 1940s was a country with strong
and overt anti-Black racial discrimination. The WPA provided jobs for
hundreds of thousands of Black people but within a system of racial
hierarchy. Despite some new federal requirements requiring equal
treatment, Black workers were often placed at the back of the line for
jobs, and they were often relegated to the lowest paid positions
regardless of their skills. (See Cheryl Lynn Greenberg’s _To Ask
for an Equal Chance: African Americans and the Great Depression_
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details.)

As the US economy revived with the growth of the defense industries
serving World War II, the WPA wound down and then ended in 1943. Just
as Black workers were among the last hired for WPA jobs, when the US
economy recovered, they were among the last hired into the reviving US
economy. This meant that Black workers became relatively more
dependent on the WPA as White workers were more able to obtain
conventional work. As a result of this dynamic, as the economy
recovered the share of Black workers in WPA jobs increased. As FIGURE
B shows, the Black share of WPA jobs was 14.2 percent in 1939, and
had increased to 19.9 percent by 1942. The WPA provided jobs that
helped many Black families survive the Great Depression, but within a
context of strong White employment preferences.

Today, it is important to remember that the federal government can
create a large-scale subsidized employment program. Although the
country is experiencing a historically low national unemployment rate,
there are many communities that are still struggling with high
unemployment. There are still roughly 15 million people
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unable to find work, but Black people are overrepresented among the
jobless. The country can still benefit from a subsidized employment
program targeted to the communities facing high rates of joblessness,
but this time without the anti-Black racial discrimination. Sign on to
a call for a federal subsidized employment program here
[[link removed]]. 

_ALGERNON AUSTIN is the Director for Race and Economic Justice at the
Center for Economic and Policy Research._

_Algernon Austin has conducted research and writing on issues of race
and racial inequality for over 20 years. His primary focus has been on
the intersection of race and the economy. _

_Austin was the first Director of the Economic Policy Institute’s
Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy where he focused on the
labor market condition of America’s workers of color. He has also
done work on racial wealth inequality for the Center for Global Policy
Solutions and for the Dēmos think tank. At the Thurgood Marshall
Institute, the think tank of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund, Inc., he worked on issues related to race, the economy, and
civil rights.  _

_Austin has a Ph.D. in sociology from Northwestern University, and he
taught sociology as a faculty member at Wesleyan University. He has
discussed racial inequality on PBS, CNN, NPR, and other national
television and radio networks. His most recent book is America Is Not
Post-Racial: Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Racism, and the 44thPresident
[[link removed]].  _

_THE CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND POLICY RESEARCH (CEPR) was established in
1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and
social issues that affect people’s lives. In order for citizens to
effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be
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_Toward this end, CEPR conducts both professional research and public
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* Inequality
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* Jobs
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* unemployment
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* workers
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* African Americans
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* U.S. history
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* Racism
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* WPA
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* federal government
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