Blacks in California Leading With the Highest Percentage of Unemployment in 10 Years

Los Angeles, CA — As the nation’s jobless rates jumped to its highest levels in nearly a decade, the number of black people looking for work in California but unable to find it increased by 12.1 percent for the fiscal 2002-2003 year, the Labor Department reported.

Just when California’s wounded economy needed a little tender care, the number of black unemployment increased a full percentage, with a net loss of more than 25,000 jobs and from June to July payroll jobs fell by as much as 21 percent officials reported. However, in a state that is known for glamour, glitz, fashion, and plastic surgery this is hardly the first time people have fretted about California’s economy, which has seen one wild swing of fortune after another since the Gold Rush.

“Blacks should be very concerned about the latest set of numbers released by the Labor Department,” said Roosevelt Roby Founder and CEO of the World Business Exchange Network www.wbe.net the largest on-line trade association in the world.

“The high rate of unemployment for African Americans has several reasons such as shifts away from manufacturing and urban city employment which have forfeited African Americans of traditional sources of employment,” he said.

The unemployment rate for blacks without high school diplomas is 15.5 percent. For blacks with high school education, the rate dips to 9.4 percent. But if you are black with a college degree, the rate plummets to only 3.2 percent which presents a strong argument for the value of education.

“While some economists predict the economy will rebound this year, and the future of black business will take a shift once the re-call election of California Governor Gray Davis is over Roby said that the job market might take longer.

“After the recall vote, things could get better — or much worse,” he said. “California needs to bite the bullet, and this (recall) is wasting precious time.

Roby said he has the solutions to bringing jobs and businesses back to the State of California and into black communities across the country. The answer is in international trade.

“Our government loans billions and billions of dollars to overseas businesses to spend back with American businesses and entrepreneurs that want to get involved in import/export trade,” he said. “The problem is very few back Americans know about trade and the huge profits one can make by doing this,” said Roby.

Nationwide black unemployment hit 11.8 percent in June, a new high since the recession began in March 2001. Hispanic unemployment climbed as well, to 8.4 percent, from 8.2 percent.

But while both numbers have historically been higher than that of whites, blacks are being affected much more than Hispanics, whose educational rates substantially trail those of blacks.

“Blacks are more heavily concentrated in manufacturing jobs, which have shed workers quickly during this downturn and may not ramp up to their former size because of global outsourcing,” said Roby.

“What happens to our economy has direct implications on the black community. Blacks basically command more labor market power, whereas Latinos cannot because of their immigration status,” said Roby. “Therefore, the wage pressure is kept down on Latinos making them more exploitable, and, therefore, more employable. There is really no subtle way to explain the point.”

Self-employed business owner Debra Crawford, CEO of MPS Network Inc. a large black accounting firm based in Los Angeles, said that this was forth coming and that in order for our state to get out of this budget deficit we must address the current issues of unemployment, workers compensation (which by the way doubled this past year) and bringing businesses back to our state.

This is really brutal, “I’m trying to save jobs for my people and their families, and it’s like they (politicians) are walking around in a daze. We are in a state of emergency,” she said.

Roby concludes, “This sends an alarming message if we start closing down businesses the money stops generating, and when the money stops this will affect our entire nation, it’s a high risk economy which can bounce back. The question is how long will it take and how much damage will be done after this is all over.”

For more information on World Business Exchange Network log on to their Web site at www.wbe.net or call 800-537-7347. For more information on MPS Consulting Inc call 323-655-6022. •