Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 16 April 2010 — Page 29

The Muncie Times • April 16,2010 • Page 29

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News Briefs

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Compiled By Andre Scott Black jobless rates remain high, even while national and white rates drop WASHINGTON, D.C.The numbers are clear. As the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week that the national unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7 percent last month, there remains the untold story. That story is that as the overall unemployment rate remained steady, the black unemployment rate leaped from 15.8 percent to 16.5 percent. The rate for black women rose from 12.1 percent to 12.4 percent. The rate for black men rose rising from 17.8 percent to 19 percent. Meanwhile, unemployment rates for white America, just half that of the black rate, either remained steady or went down. For whites, the rate remained at 8.8 percent, well below the national average. For white men, the rate dropped from 9 percent to 8.9 percent. For white women, the rate remained steady at 7.3 percent. Labor experts say racial disparities in education a r e a key answer. “There’s* a very sharp relationship between the level of education and unemployment rates,” says Dr. Barry R. Chiswick, distinguished professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and director of the UIC Center for \

Economic Education. “For example, in March of last month, those with less than a high school degree had an unemployment rate of 14.5 percent whereas those with a bachelor’s degree or more has an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.” Also exacerbating the black unemployment rate may be the fact that many of the job areas where African Americans and Latinos tend to concentrate are among the first to lay off or become slow during hard economic times. “It goes up more rapidly in manufacturing and in construction than it does in service occupations,” Chiswick says. He says there are several ways to reduce the unemployment disparity in educational attainment and the second is to increase jobs. Chiswick’s suggestions mirror those of the National Urban League’s State of Black America report released last month. In a plan to “put America back to work”, outlined in the annual report, NUL President and CEO Marc Modal lists “targeted investments for job creation” as the number one means of dealing with unemployment. He also lists job training for the chronically unemployed; greater access to credit to help small businesses and the selfemployed to stay afloat; additional counseling relief for people caught in foreclosures; and tax

incentives for clean energy companies who employ individuals in hardest hit communities. Despite efforts by the Obama administration, it appears conditions are worsening for African Americans. The “Equality Index” comparing the economic status of blacks and whites in the SBA report is 57.4 percent. Modal explains in a recent column for NNPA: “This reflects an unemployment rate for blacks that is double that for whites, a widening of the median household income gap, and the sobering facts that less than half of African American families own a home compared to three quarters of white families and that blacks and Hispanics are more than three times as likely as whites to live below the poverty line.” Not too late to mail, return census forms WASHINGTON, D.C.Census Day (April 1) has passed but that doesn't mean it's too late to turn in your 10-question census form to be counted. The Census Bureau will continue to accept 2010 Census questionnaires by mail through mid-April. For households that fail to mail back their forms, census workers will begin making door-to-door visits, beginning May 1 and will continue doing so until mid-July. Census data determine crucial dollar allocations and political representa-

tion within communities. The data determine the apportionment of congressional seats to states. It also determines the distribution of more than $4 trillion in federal funds to local governments and communities over the next decade and lays the groundwork for what community services will be provided. Still, only 54 percent of the nation's estimated 145 million households mailed back their census forms on April 1, reports the U. S Census Bureau. April 1 was the official deadline day to reply to the census so that the federal government can begin conducting the nation's decennial headcount, as mandated by the U.S. Constitution. The 2010 U.S. census will cost taxpayers almost $12 billion, according to a 2008 budget request submitted by the Department of Commerce, making it the most expensive count ever. "The Census Bureau and I would like to thank everyone who has already taken 10 minutes to fill out and mail back the 2010 Census," Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said in a statement. "For those who have not yet had a chance to send it back, I'd like to reiterate that it's not too late to participate and doing so will save a lot of taxpayer money." The massive address canvassing operation will cost taxpayers an average of $57 per household, ver-

sus the 42 cents it takes to get a response back by mail to send a census taker door-to-door to collect the same, information that they didn’t mail it back. Approximately 140,000 census takers will follow up in person with every single address that doesn't mail back a form in order. So if the Census form is still sitting on your coffee table expect a visit by a public worker carrying a U.S. Census Bureau badge. For the first time, workers will also carry around GPS-enabled handheld computers to record data. The handheld devices will improve accuracy of the count and precision of geographic data gathered, according to the Census Bureau. In the case that nobody answers, a census taker will visit a home up to three times. A census taker can only ask census form-related questions but may require your phone number in order to follow up with questions regarding incomplete information. "If we feel that you may have a discrepancy with your questionnaire we'll call you back," said 2010 census chief operating officer Arnold Jackson in an earlier interview with NNPA News Service. "We may call 8 million households out of 145 million." By law, the Census Bureau is not allowed to share respondents' answers with any other governmental agency, continued on page 31

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