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The State of the Dream 2004: Enduring Disparities in Black and White

Unemployment, continued

The official unemployment rate only counts people who are actively looking for work and cannot find a job. People who are considered "discouraged" and are no longer searching for work, prisoners, and those in the underground economy are not counted as unemployed. Thus real unemployment is much higher than the official unemployment rate. A substantial portion of the Black population is outside the workforce, with little indication that the job market will have a place for them.

Discrimination in hiring is still a significant cause of Black unemployment. A 2003 study of job applications showed continuing employer discrimination. Researchers at the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sent fictitious responses to help-wanted ads, with either white-sounding names (Emily Walsh, Brendan Baker) or black-sounding names (Lakisha Washington, Jamal Jones). The white-sounding names were 50% more likely to be invited for an intitial interview than applicants with black-sounding names. Black resumes weren't helped much by stronger credentials.¹ Similarly, in 2003 a sociologist at Northwestern University, Devah Pager, sent white and Black men with and without criminal records to job interviews, and found that white applicants with prison records were more likely to be hired than Black applicants without one.²

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United for a Fair Economy • Racial Wealth Divide Project 5