By: Allison Bunyer
The US economy currently has an unemployment rate of 4%, which is considered pretty good in the eyes of most people. This rate is low, considering the unemployment rate was at 10.2% in the prime of the stock market crash of 2008 (NCSL). Currently, many employers are keeping American workers and people are not looking for work. And yes, holistically, we have low unemployment; but, are there groups of people the US can look to promote work in or help them find jobs? By eliminating discrimination in the workplace and promoting the work of women with disabilities and african americans, we can create a stronger workforce.
I decided to look at 2 different groups, women with disabilities and african american workers in the workforce. These two groups have been historically unable work because of discrimination or have been discouraged to over the course of time. We have seen an increase in work from both these groups. More women started working after their factory work done in World War II and the overall empowerment of women over the last 40 years. There has also been an increase in african american workers after the Civil Rights movement in the 60’s, as many now see them as equals in the workplace. But, discrimination does not disappear overnight and still exists.
The current unemployment rate for women with disabilities is 9.4%, compared to 4% for women without disabilities (Forbes). This is the largest unemployment rate for minority groups across the country. This is also a group of people not looked at much, when thinking about the workforce. Women in this group face ‘double discrimination’. They face the struggle of being a woman, as well as having a disability. By employing women with disabilities, we can empower them to make a wage, and be able to live on their own and support themselves. The current poverty rate of women with disabilities is 30.7%, compared to the rate for women without disabilities, 12% (NWLC). By decreasing the unemployment rate in this group of Americans, we can help decrease our overall poverty as well. I understand that the government may not have the responsibility to encourage the work of these women, but if the culture of workplaces can change, and hire more people who need work to survive, our country would be much stronger.
Now to the second highest unemployment rate out of minority groups, african americans. The unemployment rate for this group is 6.8%, at its lowest since 1972. This is a great step forward for our country, as many people now realize we are all equal. Especially since this means many other unemployment rates for minorities are low. But, if the rate is broken down, the rate for black men is 6.1% and 2.9% for white men (BLS). We still see a lot of difference between the rates of black men and white men, but the overall rate for african americans is very low, which means the US is making a lot of progress.When promoting all groups of Americans to work and eliminating discrimination, we can make our unemployment rate even lower.
Works Cited
Brainerd, Jackson. Affirmative Action | Overview, www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/national-employment-monthly-update.aspx.
Kim, Sarah. “Why No One Talks About The High Unemployment Rate Among Women With Disabilities.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 21 Feb. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2019/02/20/women-with-disabilities-unemployment/#3cbbb68a58a1.
I agree that America can have a stronger workforce in general by focusing on the weaker areas first. The unemployment rate among women and African Americans is much higher than the national average, and therefore bringing up the national average. It is good to encourage work places to be more open-minded towards hiring african americans and disabled women, and more can be done to ensure these unemployment rates decline. Maybe the government could allow tax breaks to companies or businesses that choose to hire either of these minority groups. This would create a win-win situation because the unemployment rates would go down and businesses would not have to pay as much in taxes. Overall the idea to focus on two of the struggling minority groups is good because if America can bring down those unemployment rates, America’s unemployment rate as a whole will drop too.
ReplyDeleteUnemployment rates in the U.S. have been cut more than in half in the last 10 years, which is a great thing for our country. The economic crash in 2008 greatly affected my family because my dad’s job was eliminated and had to be let go due to budget cuts. Because of this, it is great to hear how low our unemployment rate has become since then. However, I agree with the point about how our unemployment rates vary when looking more closely at data for groupings of individuals. The unemployment rate for women with disabilities is more than doubled the employment rate for women who do not have any disabilities, and while this seems alarming at first, it makes me wonder how many of these women have disabilities that allow them to work. In other words, what conditions fall under the umbrella of disabilities that are included in the data collected? On that same token, I have noticed an increase of people with disabilities in the workforce just in my daily life. There is a young woman with disabilities who is employed at a restaurant that my family frequently visits, and from talking with the owner, I know that company is striving to make their work environment more inclusive and wants to give all people the opportunity to work. I hope that more companies adopt this philosophy so that the unemployment rate between various groups of people becomes more similar, rather than having larger gaps between groups. With that said, the unemployment rate has been decreasing over the past few years, which is a positive trend for our country.
ReplyDeleteMy first response to this blog post would be, what qualifies as a disability in your statistic? Is it referring to someone with a intellectual disability or someone who is unable to control their body/have control of all of their limbs? I see a huge difference between these two, as one is just harder to work with compared to one who may not be able to work at all. I’m asking this because I 100% agree with your last sentence, and I believe a big change businesses can make would be hiring those with intellectual disabilities, as with support and training these people can be good workers and help out. I’ve seen this in action in places like a local Culver’s and Pick N’ Save.
ReplyDeleteIf it refers to those with physical disabilities, I feel like the last sentence is even more important and needs to be expressed more. It’s inherently harder for people with physical disabilities to find work due to their lack of ability to perform well in most entry level jobs. Someone without the use of their legs would not be very useful as a drive or someone restocking shelves, much less someone running around fast in a kitchen to gather food to bag up and serve out of a drive through window. If more people were to speak up and educate others on these disabilities and what they can and can’t do, I feel we have a shot at lowering unemployment.
This is a really good take on the unemployment rate because in class we didn’t break it up into different demographics. I think that although it might not be a measure of the US economy directly, it is a measure of how much progress we have made. I am not sure how the government could work to specifically target these minorities to raise their unemployment rate but I think it would be beneficial to our society to have an even unemployment rate.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the low unemployment rate is making the U.S. look pretty good. During the State of the Union Address a few weeks ago, President Trump announced that unemployment has been at a all time low across all demographics in the nation. Furthermore, I agree with what you said about not discriminating against some people with disabilities can make the work force stronger. Finding out that we still have areas of people that are able to work and don't have the opportunities to do so yet is exciting to hear since they can bring in much more to the labor force and build a bigger foundation compared to what America had before.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, while the unemployment rate is at a good place right now, it does not tell the whole story. When looking at the national unemployment rate it can be easy to forget the struggles that many minority groups face in finding work. While workplace discrimination has been a steady decline over the past few decades, it's important that these groups are not ignored when it comes to their increased unemployment rates. It will be (and has been) a difficult problem to fix, however if more regulations or even subsidies are put into place that encourage companies to employ a diverse range of people, we can continue moving forward. However, the unemployment rate paints an unrealistic picture of employment in the U.S. in another way as well; underemployed workers are not accounted for and this is just another way in which the struggle some groups face in finding employment is glossed over.
ReplyDeleteWhile the United States shows an all time low in the unemployment rate, I see your point about how we can further improve employment equality per say. It is interesting that when you look as specific groups of people such as certain genders, races, educations, etc., that there is actually a hidden lack of employment in individual areas. With all the strives that the U.S. has been making over the years with equality among all, you would think these ideas would transfer over into the workforce; however, when looking at these statistics you can see that it is still a prominent issue. While your statistics show growth in employment with minorities in the work force as the years go on, there is still a large gap that holds the potential for the remaining unemployed. As time goes on, I have no doubt that discrimination will continue to decline, which I feel will eventually transfer over to equality in the workforce. Although, in the meantime, the United State should be proud of its all time low unemployment rate.
ReplyDeleteThis is extremely interesting to look at because I never thought of the different minority groups that make up the United States unemployment rate. When comparing women without disabilities vs. women with disabilities you can see a glaring difference of unemployment between the two groups. I always thought that there would be a difference between the groups but not as much as what it actually is. The fact that it's a 6% difference in unemployment is mind blowing, but there still is growth for those women with disabilities which is a good sign. It was also interesting to see how that unemployment for African Americans is at an all time low even though it's not close to the regular unemployment rate yet. But it's great to see that there's been improvements within these minority groups which is phenomenal however there are still steps to be made.
ReplyDeleteAt first, when reading your introductory paragraph I was afraid but you amazingly brought a great and not well known fact about our unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is pretty much an average of all the different unemployment rates attributed to different socioeconomic groups etc and as you showed, the national unemployment rate is not representative of the rates for many underserved groups. And as we said in class, the official rate that certain campaigns put out will be different based on what they want the people to perceive, thus many people who should still count within unemployment are left out so that the rate looks better than it truly is and makes a country in general look better. That being said, you are completely right that there are stigmas and biases that need to be broken in the workplace so that these groups, who deserve and are looking for jobs just like everybody else, can find jobs, and in turn lower our unemployment further.
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