September 2, 2010

By Charlene Muhammad

Contributing Writer

For a brief period, Rose Williams fared well financially.

The African-American woman who had more than two decades of experience as an escrow officer and manager opened an escrow company in 2006 and even had five employees.

But when the housing bubble burst, her business was shut down.

Williams said she saw her average income of about $20,000 to $25,000 per month drop to a couple of thousand a month — quickly.

Williams said she relied on friends and family to help her out. 

“I’m forced to live on absolutely nothing now,” said Williams, who lives in Los Angeles County. “What keeps me going is knowing that this crisis would eventually come, and that helps me maintain my composure some days because some days it seems I just can’t make it. You have to make due with what you have.”

Since Williams’ unemployment benefits have run out, she has redrafted her resume in search of work.

Williams and her husband, who’s been unemployed for more than nine months, have cut back on expenses, especially household costs, she said.

To help save money, she unplugs all electronics when they are not in use, stopped eating out, and shares one car with family members.

With Labor Day approaching on Sept. 6, and new unemployment numbers expected to be released on Friday, Blacks continue to rank highest among America’s unemployed.

And many African Americans may not want to celebrate Labor Day: 15.6 percent of the nation’s Black population is unemployed.

The number of Americans unemployed overall is 14.6 million.

Unemployment percentages among Whites, Hispanics and Asians were 8.6 percent, 12.1 percent, and 8.2 percent, respectively, according to July 2010 U.S. Department of Labor statistics, the latest numbers available.

Black unemployment in 2010 has been as high as 16.5 percent, according to the department.

Although the federal government has produced some help and is working on other tools to curb overall joblessness, some believe that it will do little to help Blacks survive.

Talmadge Talib, a car salesman of 25 years, said he knew things were bad when the usual seasonal car sales slowed to a halt. He said it had been consistently bad for about four years before the downturn actually struck.

To get by, he remained in the field by independently buying and selling reconditioned cars, but that has barely helped him to stay afloat.

“Suffice it to say that the normal income is anywhere from $60,000 to $100,000 a year, and it has been cut to about less than half that,” he said.

The L.A. County resident said he drew unemployment, but that was less than 25 percent of what he normally made.

“It’s not enough money to live on,” he said. “You can’t survive on unemployment because it barely pays the bills and it doesn’t even do that, for the most part.

“You’re still borrowing from friends and family to get along. I couldn’t imagine having a family to support based on the situation that I’m in now.”

According Greg Akili, a longtime labor activist and field organizer for Region 1 of the NAACP, it is not unusual for Blacks to find themselves three to four times more unemployed than their White counterparts. But especially in this downturn, they are the last hired and first fired, he said.

When Republican congressmembers helped block unemployment insurance benefit extensions earlier this year, that made matters worse, Talib and Williams said.

“Certain right-wing politicians have decided to make and draw out these issues because they think it plays into their interests if people are discouraged, fearful, anxious,” Akili said. “Then they can point to, ‘See, that’s what’s wrong with society,’ ... Eventually they voted for it, but they held it up for three months.”

He later added:

“I think that we have got to fight to send a message that we care about people who are unemployed, that we will do whatever we can to help create jobs both through the private and public sector or using public-sector investments to do that…”

One way to create jobs is for Blacks to hire Blacks, he said.

Akili acknowledged that some Black-owned businesses and restaurants have bought into the cheap labor pool while at the same time condemning the undocumented immigrant population in America. But they cannot have it both ways, he said.

Akili said he believes that a lot can be done to improve employment if Congress passes proposed legislation that would create roughly 3 million to 4 million jobs and boost small businesses.

While hopeful, many people are not waiting for that relief.

On Oct. 2 (“10-2-10”), One Nation Working Together, a movement of human and civil rights organizations, labor and other human rights groups, plan to march in Washington, D.C., for jobs, quality education, and justice for all.

“We want the change we voted for in 2008,” Akili said, “and we want those people who have been opposing it and obstructing it to understand if we’re one nation, then we need to work together and focus on how do we create jobs and help those people get jobs who need them.”

Meanwhile, on a local level, the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center in Watts and other education and work source centers that partner with it, provide a hand for anyone looking to break the cycle of unemployment.

The center was originally named the Watts Skills Center and was created after the 1965 Watts Rebellion, according to Janet Clark, the center’s principal.

Its state-of-the-art facility is equipped with theory and practical classrooms for training in nursing, automotive repair, construction, welding, fashion design and ESL (English as a Second Language) classes.

“Most appropriately, the center is important in a depression/recession, in a community where everything unhealthy, unhappy, is renowned internationally,” she said.

Clark said criminal records pose no problems for potential students, and the center works with re-entry programs to get people on track to education and employment.

Most of the center’s certified nursing assistant students go to work for a registry, are already taking care of a loved one, or join a local union and make at least $9 an hour through a state program.

In addition, she said, all of the center’s 25 automotive students are working part time at local facilities. And through the center’s construction pre-apprenticeship training program, students are eligible for local hiring. If students pass union tests, they receive preference for local hiring.

“Despite the numbers of unemployment among our people, there’s hope,” Clark said. “When you come inside the gate, it’s up to you to roll up your own sleeves and decide for yourself. You’re ready to become whatever you’re capable of becoming. It is our job to facilitate your knowing what it is you do best and helping you to get the skills necessary to do it.”

The only requirement one needs to attend the center is desire, she said.

“Black people have always suffered unemployment,” Clark said. “We’ve just had to stretch a little more beans and rice, but we’ve never jumped out of windows. Some of these students are living in multi-generational poverty, but they still have the spirit to prevail. All we have to do is get them to redirect their anger.”