For black men, job market hurdles grow ever larger

[Kathy in Cambridge]

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/07/31/for_black_men_job_market_hurdles_grow_ever_larger/

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It has been a tough job market for young people over the past few years. For young black men -- especially those with limited education -- it has been a brutal job market.

In 2004, fewer than 39 percent of black men between the ages of 16 and 24 had a job. The comparable national numbers for Hispanics and whites were 60 percent and 59 percent. All three groups lost ground between 2000 and 2004. Blacks started from a lower point and fell further.

In a recently published paper called, ''What Explains the Continuing Decline in Labor Force Activity Among Young Black Men?" Georgetown University public policy professor Harry Holzer supplies some answers. His paper makes for depressing reading.

According to Holzer, about 5 percent of all black men are incarcerated. For black men between 16 and 34 the percentage rises to 12 percent. Prisoners don't need to find jobs. Former prisoners do. Holzer estimates that 30 percent of young black men have criminal records. You don't need a doctorate in economics to figure out that criminal records are a huge handicap in the job market. But it gets worse.

''In the absence of explicit information about criminal backgrounds," writes Holzer, employers ''tend to avoid young black men in general."

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I wonder if white ex-cons have an equally difficult time finding employment. Something tells me they probably don't. :grr: