As African American unemployment hovers at a dismal 15 percent and voter ID laws threaten to undermine the political power of millions of Blacks and Latinos, Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network (NAN) in a partnership with the labor union AFSCME, clergy, labor and civil rights leaders from around the nation are staging […]

While America’s economic downturn has been devastating to the middle class as a whole, middle-class African-American government workers have suffered disproportionately in terms of layoffs and unemployment. See also: First Black American Billionaire, Proposes Plan To Reduce Black Unemployment About one in five black workers have public-sector jobs, and according to economists and recent government data, tens […]

A majority of Black unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. In early 2010, 75 percent of Black unemployed were receiving benefits. Now, only 48 percent receive unemployment, a shift that highlights the nation’s issues with long tern unemployment. See also: Black Unemployment Falls But Employment Picture Remains Bleak See also: Detroit is for Lovers Congress […]

WASHINGTON — A new report released by the Labor Department shows that Black unemployment has dropped from 16.0 percent to 15.1 percent in the month of October. Both of those rates are down from a 27 year high of 16.7 percent in August. The drop is an encouraging sign and understandable considering the economy added 80,000 […]

In Detroit, where a large number of the city’s unemployed are either on probation or on parole, the city recently held an “Offenders Only” Job Fair in an effort to put its ex-convicts back to work. Organized by Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh, the job fair featured hundreds of job openings available only to […]

Robert Johnson, the founder and former CEO of BET and America’s first black billionaire, has proposed his own plan to reduce Black unemployment. Johnson is pushing America’s biggest companies to significantly increase their efforts in hiring a more diverse pool of qualified candidates. The planned dubbed “RLJ Rule,” calls on Fortune 1000 companies to consider […]

As Black unemployment rises across the nation reaching numbers that more than double the percentage of unemployed whites, there are several major cities where Black unemployment is rising the fastest. In Dallas, Detroit and even San Francisco economists say a combination of factors including a younger workforce and fewer numbers of college-educated candidates has placed […]

BET founder Robert L. Johnson suggests that an answer to Black unemployment would be a requirement for all corporations to consider a Black prospect for all head positions. Johnson’s suggestion was inspired by the NFL’s so-called “Rooney Rule,” a rule that requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior operations positions. “The […]

With Black unemployment approaching 17 percent in the country — the highest in 27 years — the Congressional Black Caucus’ forum this week will surely focus on this issue. In a series of town hall meetings and discussions, several members will talk about the unemployment problem and how to attack it. The CBC conference comes […]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its most recent unemployment data. We knew that Black folks (especially men) would be at the bottom, we just didn’t know how bad. Well, it turns out that the numbers exceed even the most pessimistic predictions. Black unemployment shot up like a rocket during the month of August, […]