Unemployment Among Black Americans

All the way from Washington
Her bread winner begs off the bathroom floor
"We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"
--David Bowie

GMU prof Walter Williams discusses the unemployment situation among black Americans. Black unemployment has been double that of whites for more than 50 years. Among black youths, the unemployment rate is more than 40%. In some cities, unemployment among black working age men exceeds 50%.

It hasn't always been this way.

In the first half of the 20th century, black male labor force participation rate equaled or exceeded that of white males. Black youth unemployment was equal to or was less than white youth unemployment. Average duration of black unemployment was 15% less that white unemployment; today it is 30% longer.

Obviously, as they used to say in problem solving class, something has changed.

As WW observes, blaming racial discrimination for today's high black unemployment rates rings hollow. It is difficult to argue that discrimination is higher now than during the early 20th century period when employment among blacks was much stronger.

Williams himself recounts the multitude of jobs he worked while growing up in North Philadelphia's housing projects. Youngsters who sought after school, weekend, or summer jobs found them.

Few of those jobs are available today. The reason is minimum wage laws. As we have noted many times on these pages, minimum wage laws are a form of compulsory unemployment. Marginal workers willing to take jobs for less than the minimum wage are prohibited from doing so.

Minimum wage laws hit the young and uneducated particularly hard because these people usually seek low paying jobs. Over the past 60 years, the scope of minimum wage laws has expanded to cover nearly all jobs--forcing low skilled black out of work.

Williams also observes the backing of minimum wages laws by unions--which is no surprise because minimum wage laws protect union franchises from being undercut by non-union black workers willing to work jobs for less pay.

Public education constitutes another explanatory factor as blacks populate K-12 public school systems at higher rates than whites, particularly in urban areas. The poor performance of US public schools has also been discussed on these pages. The restraining effect of public schools on young minds therefore hits black youths particularly hard.

The underlying cause of high black unemployment, therefore, can be tied to government intervention in labor and education markets. As long as government hampers these markets, then high black unemployment is likely to persist.

As uncomfortable as it may be for those who have put their faith in the State, the solution is for government to back away from these markets.