At the outset of this series of conversations I stated that there are a range of topics that require our attention and are worthy of us taking a closer look. The topic of unemployment also deserves a closer look. While it exists and many deal with it on a daily basis, it is like the elephant in the room; people act like they do not see it. So, why does unemployment matter?
Jan and Doug are both 24 years old. One evening they meet each other for the first time. Each finds the other attractive, so the conversation begins. “What’s your name?” “What are you in to?” “You come here often?” “Are you seeing anyone or what?” Then, “What do you do?” “Uh, Well I am between jobs right now.” “Well how far in between jobs are you?” “Let’s talk about you. “Well, What about you?”
It doesn’t take long before your employment status begins to help define who you are and what you are. Unemployment affects people’s lives on many levels. It speaks to how you identify yourself, how you spend your time, your sense of meaning and purpose, the skills that you possess, and what you can or cannot do.
John worked for 18 years as a machinist. He’s married with two children. He was suddenly placed on layoff status, but his unemployment has now stretched into 17 months. His unemployment insurance has run out and his mortgage is now behind. His creditors are calling; he’s exhausted all available savings. It happened so fast! He did nothing wrong. In fact, he’s done everything he knew to do right. Now what? What he used to take for granted, like what to eat for dinner, is now a daily decision.
Sara dropped out of high school. She is about to turn 18 years old. She has never had a job. When she was 16 years old she’d tell her friends she would never work at McDonald’s or at Popeye’s Chicken, but that was before she became pregnant and her boyfriend moved on. Now what?
Unemployment matters and is important because it brings about a great deal of stress and uncertainty. It affects people in fundamental ways. Shala couldn’t sleep more that two hours at a time and was always tired. Donovan started having panic attacks. Charles stated using drugs and alcohol to excess. Carolyn slept almost all the time; she thought ‘nothing else to do’, and Damian takes out his anger on those closes to him.
Anxiety, depression, feeling worthless, feeling helpless, feeling useless, fearful preoccupations, angry feelings, even resentfulness exist because unemployment has devastating, sometimes hidden consequences. Unemployment can significantly alters the trajectory of people’s lives. And for some, they may elect to do things that they know is wrong.
Nationally there have been changes in the unemployment picture. The good news is that the unemployment rate has dropped nationally from 7.6% one year ago to 6.1% as of July 11, 2014. In the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area the rate is 5.2% according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The bad news is that this statistic doesn’t accurately reflect what is happening in the minority communities, especially among Black men and women. Nationally the unemployment rate for Black or African American is 10.7%. For Asian Americans the rate is 5.1%, for White men and women the rate is 5.3%. For youth 16-19 years of age, the unemployment rate is 18.9% for all teens, but for Black teens the rate is 33.4%. What’s wrong here?
Oh yeah, the insured unemployment rate was around 2.0% as of July 5, 2014 according to the U.S. Department of Labor. This is the rate for those who have unemployment insurance. So, the rest of the unemployed are without unemployment benefits. This also has historically meant no health insurance as well. Washington State had 1.8% fewer claims for unemployment insurance from a year ago. So inside of these statistics are some indicators of improvement. Yet for many, the changes are inconsequential. For many in our community they cannot feel the difference!
Economists have come to accept that an unemployment rate of about 6.1%. This is to be expected. However, they become alarmed when the rate begins to climb above this percentage. So, What is an acceptable rate of unemployment for African Americans? I said acceptable rate, not tolerable rate. Recently people began to clamor for a rise in the minimum wage, and for changes in immigrant status, and for many other causes. But the conversation on unemployment in the Black community has been drowned out or is nonexistent!
Now, employment and economics are not my areas of expertise, but I do see how they affect people who find themselves challenged by the change in employment status and the lack of available and viable employment. But more alarming to me than the staggering numbers of unemployed and the discrepancy in the rates of unemployment is the limited action on any level to address the unemployment problem in a meaningful manner. Also of concern is the collective nonchalant attitude that seems to prevail. For many it is par for the course, the status quo.
A noted success of the civil rights movement was the improvements in opportunities from military service to access to education. Now, the tragedy is that fewer numbers of the young people seem to take advantage of them. They do not position themselves to improve their chances to live prosperously. Some think of school is often just an activity, for some it is a waste of time, for others; just a place to socialize or hang out, to the rest it’s just boring. A relatively small percentage of students have achieved a definite plan to prepare for their life after graduation. Even those who graduate from college often find themselves without a career path or employment projection, or even a fall back plan. The time is well past to just see what will happen next, and then deal with it.
When you ask many young people about their plans for their lives; what they want to be, you get comments like; become a professional athlete, become a star in music or movies, or some form of entertainment. And, all too often you hear, “I don’t know”. Now, if you reach the 11th grade and still your answer is “I don’t know” then you weren’t really paying attention!
More has to be done to get them thinking about realistically taking charge of their future with diligent preparation and skill building. This involves adult guidance, supervision, and support. The conversation with young people needs to begin early. They simply cannot rely upon getting a job as their parents did. Even the employment application process has become less personal. Now, you apply on line and hope that you will hear back from someone. Time is an important variable in dealing with the prospects of employment. The misallocation of time is part of the tragedy. Too much time is spent disproportionately playing video games, using social media, spent on the cell phones, leaving little time to squeeze in productive activities. Some students rush through homework and assigned projects to get back to other things.
If your child doesn’t have time to do homework or to study, or to read, then as a parent you need to look closer at how their time is being spent and make some adjustments. Our kids cannot keep falling farther behind. They cannot be the ones with the discipline problems at school. Parents need to stay involved in their child’s education so they are better able to compete for employment in an ever-expanding global competition for work.
Our children should not have to look forward to an unemployment rate of 34%. They should not expect that at some time in their lifetime they would be incarcerated or on probation. Unemployment matters because it is highly correlated to being incarcerated. The Pew Research Center in 2013 reported that on the anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. “I have a Dream” speech there is a widening gap between the black-white incarcerations. Black men were more than six times as likely to be incarcerated in federal and local jails in 201o according to their report. We have to do better because the implications of these findings are far reaching. Children are without available fathers, families are in limbo, and poverty is more likely. The NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet reported that 26% of the juvenile arrests nationwide and 44% of the juveniles detained are African-Americans. For many of them getting a job in their future will be very difficult. Clearly, we can and must do better!
The truth is that unemployment matters. Even though many people do quite well in managing their lives in spite of being unemployed, shame, guilt, and other feelings of dissatisfaction persists. This is also true when they finds themselves employed, but have to work more than one job to meet or sustain their needs, they have to grapple with what it requires of them. If indeed unemployment matters, then making preparations to protect oneself or to inoculate oneself from unemployment makes sense. Preparing the next generation to make wise employment decisions early also makes sense.
