Unemployment in Black America - Research Paper Example

English Unemployment in Black America In the 21st century, the concept of diversity management has garnered a lot of attention among many scholars. Diversity management suggests that every person irrespective of his or her race, colour, age, gender or even physical qualities should receive fair treatment. In the employment sector, diversity management has become a crucial topic of discussion taking the position of one of the management strategies for handling diverse populations. In America, the issue of cultural difference has brought about outstanding difference in the way particular minority groups are treated. Evidently, it is clear that the employment rates of minority groups are much lower as compared to the employment rate of the white people. Statistics show that black Americans have been particularly affected by this racial bias, as the unemployment rate of these minorities is higher than that of whites and other minorities groups such as American Indians. The consequence of this is that Black Americans continue to wail in poverty while there is notable economic development among the whites. Although educational differences may be the reason for this low employment rate of Black Americans, it is clear that discrimination and ignorance labour laws by organizations are the major reasons for this trend. The issue of unemployment for the Blacks in America has a long history that dates back to the last six decades. In the late 1950s, discrimination was at its highest peak and little had been established to alleviate this discrimination. Discrimination in the employment sector was depicted in various perspectives in the employment sector. First, it was quite hard for a Black American to acquire a job in this region of the world as compared to the whites. Secondly, the Africans were assigned only manual labour that saw them become more of slaves than employees. In terms of wages, they were paid much lower than the whites for similar job positions. For African women, it was rare for them to find a job and only handle domestic chores. The feeling that prevailed is that Black Americans were aliens who did not have equal rights to the whites who were the natives of America. As a result, this minority groups was isolated in the slums and most of them did not afford basic commodities such as food and housing (Nunnally and Niambi 431). The poverty level was very high in the slums where most of the African Americans lived. National statistics conducted in America during this time shows that the unemployment rate in America during this period was double that of the whites. This was the highest as compared to that of other non-natives of America. The statistics conducted in the year 1954 shows that the unemployment rate of the Blacks stood at 9.9% while that of the -whites stood at 5%, which is half that of the former (Schmitt, John, and Janelle Jones 57-65). This statistical difference reflects the hardships that the African Americas had to go through before getting a position in the formal employment sector. Even those who were working in the formal sector only had manual jobs and the pay was merely enough. Most of the Blacks worked in manufacturing companies where the whites formed the greater part of the management and other minority groups worked in the technical departments handling manual jobs. The unemployment rate of other minority groups was much lower than that of African Americans. For instance, the unemployment rate of American Indians was at about 8%, which is much lower than that of the blacks (Harris 248). Many scholars have interpreted these statistics to imply that the Blacks were the most affected by discrimination among all the minority groups. The National Labour statistic released in 2013 revealed that even after various efforts to foster the employment of the African Americans, the rate of unemployment rate among the Blacks is still high. The statistics showed that the unemployment rate of Blacks is at 13.4% while that of the Whites is about 6.7%. These statistics reveal that the unemployment rate of the blacks is still double that of the whites. This issue has attracted a lot of attention with many scholars finding answers to the long persistence of the problem of employment disparities on racial boundaries. The consensus that exists is that the problem of employment disparities in America shows that the government and social corporations have done little to overcome the problem and more so to overcome the problem of racial discrimination in the employment. There are those who feel that the persistence of the problem is a manifestation of modern racism that persists in last century even after many efforts to reduce discrimination (Schmitt, John, and Janelle Jones 57-65). From a critical point of view, it is clear that despite the reduction in the unemployment rate in America in general, the disparity on the line of race has yet to be overcomed. As compared to men, the females have been particularly been affected by discrimination of blacks in the employment sector. National labour statistics show that over two-thirds of the African Americans employed in the forma sector are males while females take lower positions. This is different from the case of gender employment ratios among whites where the male to female ratio within formal employment is approaching a balance. A number of possible reasons for the gender disparities in the employment sector have come up. Many scholars have attributed this difference to the male chauvinism among the blacks that has dominated for the last half century. Since men perceive women as domestic workers, then they have done little to empower them to acquire formal employment and to bridge this gender gap. More research shows that there is a possibility that the American organizations have discriminated African women due to the notion that they are not performers, having served domestic duties for much of their lives (Harris 248). While there is no much evidence of these claims, it is clear that the Black women in America have become victims of unemployment in America, which is a matter of concern in a country that advocates for diversity management. Apart from low employment rate of women, it is clear that there is gender gap on basis of wages in states such as Ontario. The gender wage gap in Ontario has been a controversial issue since early 1980s when this difference was noted. Cornish and Faraday (8) noted that women salary for equal position in Ontario is 29% below that of women indicating a wide salary gap across the gender boundaries. A close look at the wage gap trends indicates that there has only been slight improvement in the last 25 years despite the numerous efforts to close this gap. In 1987, before the emergence of wage gap activists, the wage gap was approximately 37% in Ontario. These trends indicate that the efforts to bring down the gap have been undermined and the gap remains wide. Cornish and Faraday (8) points out the wage gap has affected aboriginal women who have migrated to Ontario in search for a job. This trend in the Ontario employment sector is a matter that has attracted a lot of attention not only from the public but also to the women right activists as many feel that there is a need for equal pay across all gender as part of diversity management. Cornish and Faraday (9) point out that the wage gap difference is a matter of urgency that must be addressed to fight gender oppression in the society. In the last 50 years, there has been activism against racial discrimination in American employment sector. The Labour act in America was formed to provide “employment freedom” and to fight the discrimination of minority groups through creation of “labour freedom” in America. The labour act requires that all US citizens irrespective of their culture, race or skin colour have the same rights to employment. The Equity Act law was more comprehensive in addressing a wide range of problems that the workers experience within the employment sector. The act barred organizations from discriminating the non-whites while recruiting to help in the fight against poverty in America. The Equity Act in Ontario required that all business organizations beat the gender wage gap, which for long has oppressed women especially those from minority groups. The international Human Rights activists such as the United Nations have addressed the issue of racial bias by stating general laws against discrimination. The UN laws require that all human beings be treated with dignity as all human beings are equal and should treat each other as brothers. The government has encouraged employment of the non-whites in the public sector to close the unemployment gap in America (Schmitt, John, and Janelle Jones 57-65). However, the persistence of the problem shows that little has been achieved in reducing the employment gaps in America. The impact of low employment rate of black Americans is consequential and has long term impacts of the development of this group. Employment provides an opportunity for the minority groups to rise in economical class, especially after impoverishment during the early ages of inequality in America. Unemployment has made it impossible for the Blacks to afford a decent living in the country. Majority of Africans in America have moved to the slums as they cannot afford the high cost of living in the urban areas. Secondly, the African Americans face hardships in acquiring finances to start up new businesses, which would increase employment and reduce poverty in the country. Additionally, most of the black Americans cannot afford the health insurance and have remained uncovered for the better part of their lives. As a result the mortality rate of the Blacks is twice higher than that of the whites in America due to prevalence of chronic diseases. A recent statistic shows that the potential of life loss of black Americans below the age of 75 years is about 1.8 times higher than that of the whites (Juan, Evans-Polce, and Ensminger 550). This shows that lack of employment among Blacks has reduced the life expectancy of the minority groups considerably. The consequences of high unemployment of among Blacks in America show that there is a great reason to worry. The main reason why this problem persists is a controversial issue that has different sides of the same coin. Researchers have showed that low education awareness among the blacks is the reason why it reason why they have a hard time accessing formal employment in American employment sector that is becoming more competitive (Harris 248). On the other hand, the whites are more aware of the value of education and have improved their academic profile to meet the expectations of the employment sector. Those on other side of the controversy point of that the strategies that American government has put forward to close the gap of unemployment have remain paper plans and have not been implemented. In their opinion, the government has the role to support education among the blacks and to compel organizations to support diversity management strategies. Also, they support the idea that discrimination has persisted not only in labour force but in all other aspects. For instance, the African-Americans are denied loans to help them start personal entrepreneurship schemes that would reduce poverty among this minority group. From a critical point of view, it is clear that the American government needs to work out effective plans to address work-related problems that have persisted in the last five decades in this state. The trends in employment gap points out that there is need for new approaches to closing gender gaps. Cornish and Faraday (19) provides that one way to close unemployment gaps is to set the human rights as a priority, and design strategies to compel organization to comply with the principles of equal opportunities. Although the equality act was an effective plan to reduce discrimination against minority groups, it remained a paper plan. To achieve effectiveness, the government should enforce it and compel the organizations to implement it in the employment sector. For instance, the government should fund its public organization and to facilitate increase in ratio of blacks, who already victims of this crisis. To compel the private organization to implement this plan, they should make a follow up to ensure that there is compliance. For instance, the government should open a forum where blacks can express their grievances and present complains on work related issues. Through this communication channel, the government will learn the problems of Black Americans and visit the organizations that fail to implement the equal rights law. Stern measures should be taken against those organizations that fail to comply with minimum standards demanded by the law. Taking positive action towards the implementation of the labour standards will form be one way of fighting against black discrimination in America. In conclusion, the persistent problem of high unemployment rate among African American is a matter of concern for America. For the last five decades, the rate of unemployment of Africans has been double that of the whites and much higher than that of other minority groups. Despite numerous laws compelling both public and private organization to close the unemployment gap in America, the problem has not ended. The consequences of this employment gap are that African-Americans are the majority in slums and have little access even to social services such as health and education. Resultantly, the poverty level has increased and the mortality rate of this group has gone higher. On this ground, the American government has the role to intervene by implement the national employment laws that have remained paper plans since the time they were developed. Also, this issue should be prioritized and the government should allocate more portion of the budget to the education of the minority groups to empower them. Works Cited Cornish and Faraday. Closing the Gender Pay Gap in Ontario: Securing Justice for Women’s Work. Equal Pay Coalition, 2009. Harris, Angel. "The Economic And Educational State Of Black Americans In The 21St Century: Should We Be Optimistic Or Concerned?." Review Of Black Political Economy 37.3/4 (2010): 241-252. Business Source Complete. Web. 2 May 2014 Juon, Hee-Soon, Rebecca J. Evans-Polce, and Margaret Ensminger. "Early Life Conditions Of Overall And Cause-Specific Mortality Among Inner-City African Americans." American Journal Of Public Health 104.3 (2014): 548-554. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014. Nunnally, Shayla, and Niambi Carter. "Moving From Victims To Victors: African American Attitudes On The Culture Of Poverty And Black Blame." Journal Of African American Studies 16.3 (2012): 423-455. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 May 2014. Schmitt, John, and Janelle Jones. "AMERICAs "NEW CLASS": A Profile Of The Long- Term Unemployed." New Labor Forum (Sage Publications Inc.) 21.2 (2012): 57-65. Business Source Complete. Web. 2 May 2014. Read More