Saturday, April 23, 2016

I am posting this under Workplace because I was not sure where else to put it and work is one of the dimensions that the authors talk about in the following article. If you ever even contemplated the possibility that we live in a post-racial society, an idea, which, I suppose, began we when elected President Obama, then the graphics in this article will show just how far we are from being post-racial. I am aware of these sorts of stats and how people of color in the US have so much less access to important societal scare resources, but to see the stats displayed in this form stunned, even me. Golash-Boza points out the difference between the jobless rate and the unemployment rate. The jobless rate is a more accurate reflection of the racialized labor market. Jobless rates are higher for the Latino population and the Black population. The statistics for Native Americans are harder to come by and they are not reported as systematically as statistics for whites, Blacks, Latinos and Asians. We do know that joblessness is high among many Native American nations and poverty rates are "off the charts." Statistics for the Asian American population, if aggregated, suggest that this sub-population mirrors the white population; however, when we focus on specific sub-groups within Asia America, there is significant variation. The recent economic crisis hit people of color quite hard and exacerbated the other dimensions mentioned in this article. One solution certainly is massive jobs creation like we have never seen before and it has to have a spatial component to it so that it overcomes spatial-mismatch and we must completely revamp our educational system so that we can overcome skills-mismatch as well.

Reeves, Richard, Edward Rodrigue and Elizabeth Kneebone. (April 2016). Five Dimensional Poverty and Race in America. Brookings Research. Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2016/five-evils-multidimensional-poverty-race

1 comment:

  1. I find it shocking that some people believe that the United States is now a "post-racial" society. This idea would mean that there is no racial preference, discrimination, and prejudice. While researching this topic after speaking with you, I found that the popularity of this term grew following President Obama's election. This idea was promoted after Obama won the South Carolina primary and the audience chanted "Race doesn't matter;" however, one victory does not eliminate all racism. I think that this article serves as strong evidence against those who believe that America is now "post-racial" because the statistics show the disproportion between the races. Not only is poverty caused by unemployment and limited education, but the other factors mentioned in the article hold significance. I agree that in order to decrease the poverty rate and increase employment, the educational system must be altered to provide all with a better chance of employment. Until such alterations are made in society, the idea of "post-racial" America is just a dream.

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