WASHINGTON (AP) — African-Americans and Latinos are
losing economic ground when compared with whites in the areas of employment and
income as the United States pulls itself out of the Great Recession, the latest
State of Black America report from the National Urban League says.
The annual report, called "One Nation
Underemployed: Jobs Rebuild America," noted that the underemployment rate
for African-American workers was 20.5 percent, compared with 18.4 percent for
Hispanic workers and 11.8 percent for white workers. Underemployment is defined
as those who are jobless or working part-time jobs but desiring full-time work.
The report also said African-Americans are twice as
likely as whites to be unemployed. The unemployment rate for blacks was 12
percent in February, compared with 5.8 percent for whites.
"Many Americans are being left behind, and that
includes African-Americans and Latinos who are being disproportionately left
behind by the job creation that we see," National Urban League President
Marc Morial said.
Despite the dismal numbers, an analysis by The
Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found
African-Americans significantly more optimistic about their future standard of
living than whites, regardless of income level, education or partisanship.
Overall, 71 percent of blacks surveyed in the 2012 General Social Survey agreed
that they have a good chance of improving their standard of living, outpacing
the share among whites by 25 percentage points.
The survey found high optimism even among blacks who
say racism is a cause for economic inequality.
Such findings illustrate "a level of optimism
in the African-American community and it's important to lift that up,"
said La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, which released similar findings this week in separate research.
The National Urban League is pushing for several
economic measures, including an increase in the minimum wage, an issue being
debated in Congress. Democrats backed by President Barack Obama want to force
election-year votes on gradually increasing today's minimum to $10.10 by 2016,
an effort that seems likely to fail in Congress. Republicans generally oppose
the proposal, saying it would cost too many jobs.
"More must be done in post-recession America to
try to help people and help communities close these gaps," Morial said.
The National Urban League derives its numbers from
an "equality index" that is based on nationally collected data from
federal agencies including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the National Center for Education Statistics and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
With full equality with whites in economics, health,
education, social justice and civic engagement set at 100 percent, the National
Urban League said this year's equality index for blacks stands at 71.2 percent,
a slight improvement over last year's index of 71.0 percent. However, the
economic portion of the index dropped from 56.3 percent to 55.5 percent.
The equality index for Hispanics improved to 75.8
percent, compared with 74.6 percent last year, while the Hispanic economics
index declined from 60.8 percent to 60.6 percent.
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