African American Male High Unemployment

[sanch]

Here is an interesting article that shows how you can have increased representation at one level yet very negative outcomes on another level. There are more African American departments, more attention to African American disparities. In spite of all of this the plight of African American males is increasing. They are disproportionately represented in prison and unemployment is comparatively very high.

BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/n...&en=6ca3ed1b3c6b74ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage

 

[Doryman]

I think the glorification of the "Ghetto-Pimp" lifestyle may have a lot to do with this. Because of some segments of black popular culture, especially the music industry, a lot of teenagers see being a drug-dealer or a Pimp as a much more glamourous career than that of a gainfully employed and educated professional. Therefore a lot of young men are shunning the mainstream job industry for the black market.