Keeping the dream alive amidst soaring unemployment among African-Americans

As we observe the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, unemployment among African-Americans is at its highest in more than a quarter-century. In the latest data, unemployment rates among Black-Americans zoomed to 16.2 percent in December compared to 15.6 percent in the previous month and 12.1 percent a year ago. In contrast, unemployment among White-Americans dipped to 9.0 percent in December from 9.3 percent in the previous month, and the overall U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 10.0 percent. While the recession has affected most Americans, it has especially hit hard the black communities where job losses far outnumbered job creation. From December 2008 to December 2009, the unemployment rate among Blacks increased by 4.3% while that in Whites increased by 2.4% during the same period. Forty-seven years after the famous ‘I have a dream’ speech by Dr. King calling or equality, prosperity and freedom for all Americans, the chart below shows the continuing and diverging gap between the Black and White Americans. Is the dream in Jeopardy?



Such statistics indicate that if you are an African-American, you have to try twice as hard to land that job. Instead of giving up, now is the time for renewed commitment and resolution to step up your job search efforts. Do not wait for that illusionary assistance from the government and politicians, instead, create a routine to expand your network, improve your skills, and apply for jobs with a freshly minted resume and a positive attitude. According to data from Quantcast, America’s Job Exchange attracts almost twice African-American visitors than the internet average.



We offer more jobs for the minority candidates among major job sites and supplement with tools and content that can help land that job. In addition to looking for jobs in our national site there are specific diversity exchanges to find jobs from employers who are specifically planning to hire from the minority candidates. You can upload your resume and simply click the apply button for jobs that are available. Don’t forget to sign-up for job scouts that sends jobs each night to you email inbox

So, on this very special day celebrating the 81st birthday of MLK, let’s renew commitments to make the elusive dream a reality. It is not going to be easy, but we must try.

Source:

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov)

2. Quantcast data analysis (www.quantcast.com)