[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 33 (Thursday, March 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E481]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             BLACK AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN NEW YORK CITY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 17, 2005

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, today we come before this chamber to be 
heard on an issue of national consequence and one that is particularly 
relevant to Black Americans. While we are being told that the economy 
is showing signs of recovery, that point of view is not reflected in 
what I, and many of my colleagues in the House, see in our districts. 
In fact, conditions appear to be consistently bad as more people face 
extended periods of joblessness--and Blacks remain at a disadvantage to 
whites in the labor market.
  Black Americans have continued to endure chronic unemployment 
relative to whites in the nation. The Department of Labor Bureau of 
Labor Statistics Employment Situation Summary for February reveals that 
while the Nation's unemployment rate is 5.4 percent, Black unemployment 
is 10.9 percent.
  The BLS data confirms what has become a long-term trend of Black 
Americans exclusion from the labor market. The disparity is all the 
more glaring given that white unemployment was only 4.6 percent last 
month. Unemployment for Black women hovered at 9.1 percent and for 
teenagers, age 16 to 19, unemployment was 31.5 percent; a numbing 
statistic considering economic conditions in our community.
  Though the economy gained 262,000 jobs last month it was of little 
benefit to Blacks seeking work, considering much of the gains were in 
the construction trades--an area from which Blacks have historically 
been excluded, retail--where mergers and acquisitions between major 
retail companies signal another round of downsizing, and in areas such 
as temporary employment services and food services--where wages may not 
be sufficient for self sustenance.
  What these numbers tell us is that we have arrived at a place 
somewhere beyond crisis for Black Americans and their relation to the 
world of work. It is a chilling reminder of the systemic failure of the 
economy to fairly apportion opportunity and shed any vestiges of 
racially discriminatory practices. It is why we convene today to 
discuss this national imperative and urge our President to take 
immediate action to make jobs and income security a national priority.

  A good wage job is the foundation for the economic security of all 
Americans, and particularly so for people of color who have 
historically been denied opportunity in our country. Rhetoric about 
``family values'' is disingenuous if large segments of our Nation are 
not given the chance to earn a good wage and provide for their 
children, spouses, and increasingly parents, whose retirement income is 
not sufficient to sustain independent living.
  This is quite evident in my city--New York City--the Nation's largest 
metropolis and home to the panorama of racial and ethnic groups that 
represent the emerging face of America. In this great city, and in many 
others across the country, the economic devastation has hit close to 
home. Last year one of our city's leading nonpartisan, not-for-profit 
social policy and advocacy organizations--the Community Service Society 
or ``CSS''--issued a landmark report on the crisis of Black male 
unemployment.
  For those of you not familiar with the Community Service Society, it 
is an organization that has a 160-year history of working to alleviate 
conditions of poverty affecting low-income New Yorkers. CSS' roots in 
working to raise living conditions for city residents can be traced 
back to the settlement house movement in New York City and its role in 
founding the Columbia University School of Social Work. It is an 
organization that has played an invaluable role historically in the 
life of our city and continues to be a voice of conscience today.
  The study revealed some 50 percent of Black men in New York City were 
removed from the labor market. Fifty percent! By any standards it 
should be unacceptable for half of any group to be without work. Now to 
be fair, the latest CSS report indicates some improvement in jobholding 
for Black men but they have steadily lost ground relative to other 
groups in the city. It is a tragedy that should evoke shame and outrage 
in the 21st century.
  CSS also issued a report that revealed the degree to which young 
people in our city, age 16 to 24, are not in school and out of work--
tagged ``disconnected'' for the manner in which they are excluded from 
civic life. In total, the report calculated that there are 170,000 
disconnected young people in our communities--a population that 
surpasses our state capital of Albany and many mid-size American 
cities.
  We know there are a number of factors fueling this crisis. Many of 
our public schools serving the population of young people the CSS 
report identified as disconnected are not equipped to prepare them for 
the realities of today's work world. And while we all advocate for 
higher standards, improved test scores absent any connection to a good 
wage job is a hollow victory. Many of us, including myself, understand 
the importance of retooling vocational and technical education so 
students who do not see college as an immediate option will have the 
opportunity to earn a living.
  Likewise, we are aware of traditional barriers that have obstructed 
Black Americans from economic opportunity. In the spirit of 
bipartisanship I recently accepted an invitation by the mayor of our 
city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, to serve on a city 
commission that will identify ways to eliminate barriers to employment 
in the construction trades for minorities, veterans and women. Joining 
me on that commission is the CEO of the Community Service Society, 
David Jones.
  It is an important first step in taking an industry-by-industry, 
sector-by-sector audit of impediments that are driving these dramatic 
disparities in employment. And the onus for change is not wholly on the 
private sector. The public sector must do a better job in ensuring 
equity in employment. For instance, the Fire Department of New York, a 
great and storied agency by most measures, has failed to be forward 
thinking in its hiring practices. In its most recent probationary 
class, minorities are only 14 percent of the new recruits. White males 
comprise 92 percent of the department. It is for that reason that the 
Justice Department has launched an investigation into the FDNY's hiring 
and promotion practices. So we know that government must also take 
corrective action.
  Now, against this backdrop we have a White House that is moving in 
the opposite direction of widening opportunity. In fact, President 
Bush's budget proposal has several elements that will only widen the 
gap I have described. The President proposes to cut the Workforce 
Investment Act by $61.5 million, end the program to reintegrate young 
offenders in communities, and reduces federal student loans by $10.7 
billion over 10 years. Our president has also proposed eliminating the 
Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, a cut that means an 
estimated loss of $65 million to New York State.
  And New Yorkers most affected by these proposed cuts are clear on 
their priorities. In a survey of low-income New Yorkers commissioned by 
the Community Service Society, and tied to their labor market research, 
respondents expressed support for job training and education, and the 
upgrading of vocational and technical education.
  It is a significant snapshot of the opinions of the city's working 
poor--the first of its kind in the nation that I know of that seeks to 
ferret out the views of the economically disadvantaged.
  None of this is good news for New Yorkers or most residents of our 
nation's large urban centers. And most certainly for Black Americans in 
general, and Black men specifically. Combined with the risk that the 
President's misguided Social Security proposal poses for Black seniors, 
President Bush's budget has placed us on the cusp of an economic 
disaster of cataclysmic proportion in the Black community.
  We are not alone in New York City facing this crisis. Many American 
cities, big and small, are experiencing the same problems to varying 
degrees. We cannot sit by idly and see families devastated and 
communities destroyed while economic opportunity passes us by. That is 
why I have asked several of my colleagues in the House to join me on 
this Special Order to educate the American public and sensitize the 
White House to the economic imperative facing our constituents.

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