The Current Recession:

1
The Current Recession Racially Disparate Effects
The uneven impact of the recession on an uneven
landscape of opportunity
2
The Current Recession

• The current recession has affected everyone but
  not all to the same degree.
• The brunt of unemployment, layoffs, social
  service and education budget cuts, foreclosures,
  and bankruptcies will be borne by groups already
  marginalized or undervalued by the mainstream
  economy
• people of color
• women
• manufacturing employees
• rural residents
• people with disabilities

3
Marginalization Recession

• The challenges facing marginalized groups extend
  well beyond the current recession the landscape
  of opportunity was not even prior to the economic
  downturn.
• Although the U.S. has been in a recession for
  more than a year, people of color have been in a
  recession for nearly five years and have entered
  a depression during the current economic crisis.
• These slides briefly overview some of the
  challenges facing marginalized communities and
  the uneven impacts of the economic downturn.

4
Differences in Unemployment Rates

• Since the recession began in December 2007
• Latino unemployment has risen 4.7 percentage
  points, to 10.9 percent
• Black unemployment has risen 4.5 points, to 13.4
  percent
• White unemployment has risen 2.9 points, to 7.3
  percent

Bureau of Labor Statistics http//www.msnbc.msn
.com/id/29843053
5
Unemployment, Jobs, Race

• Black and Latino workers are overrepresented in
  occupations with high unemployment rates.
• Specific sectors include

Construction
Transportation
Material moving
Service
Race and Recession How Inequity Rigged the
Economy and How to Change the Rules. Applied
Research Center, May 2009. http//arc.org/download
s/2009_race_recession.pdf
6
Unemployment and Black Men

• Between November 2007 and March 2009, the
  national decline in the number of black men with
  jobs was 660,000, accounting for 82 percent of
  the job losses among all black workers.
• During this time period, black men experienced
  the highest rate of job loss among any gender or
  racial/ethnic group.

Marlow, Ron, and Andrew Sum. A Job Crisis for
Young Black Men. The Boston Globe 22 Apr 2009.
7
Asian and Pacific Islanders Unemployment Rates
Kim, Marlene and Algernon Austin. Stuck in
Neutral. EPI Briefing Paper 228. 9 Mar 2009.
8
Poverty Gaps

• Compared to whites (2007 data)
• Blacks were 3.0 times as likely as whites to live
  in poverty
• American Indian/Alaska Native were 2.9 times as
  likely as whites to live in poverty
• Hispanics were 2.6 times as likely as whites to
  live in poverty
• Asians were 1.2 times as likely as whites to live
  in poverty

The State of Opportunity 2009 Report. The
Opportunity Agenda
9
Unemployment, Poverty, and Black Men
Cawthorne, Alexandra. Weathering the Storm
Black Men in the Recession. Center for American
Progress. April 2009. http//www.americanprogress
.org/issues/2009/04/pdf/black_men_recession.pdf
10
Poverty

• Although the black poverty rate fell 8.5 from
  1989 to 2000, the black family poverty rate
  increased 2.8 from 2000 to 2007.
• Poverty rates for Hispanic families grew .5 from
  2000 to 2007.
• The Hispanic family poverty rate (19.7) is
  roughly twice that of the overall poverty rate
  (9.8).

11
Child Poverty Projections

• The high unemployment rate in the U.S. paints a
  bleak picture for how children will be affected.
• The poverty rate for children could increase from
  an already high 18 (as of 2007) to more than 27
  by next year (2010).
• Poverty among African American children, at a
  staggering 34.5 in 2007, is projected to reach
  50 before the employment rates increase.

Mishel, Lawrence. Sounding the Alarm Update on
the Economic Downturn. EPI 14 May 2009.
http//www.epi.org/publications/entry/sounding_the
_alarm/
12
The Racial Wealth Gap
Home equity is often the largest component of the
average American familys wealth. It accounts
for 75 of the assets held by the median
household in the U.S.
13
This ratio was at a record high of 63.5 in 2000.
Once the 2001 recession and weak economic
recovery hit, these gains were lost and have yet
to be recovered.
Austin, Algernon. What a Recession Means for
Black America. EPI Issue Brief 241. 18 Jan.
2008.
14
African American homeownership gains were
reversed after 2004 they have reverted to 2000
levels.
Austin, Algernon. Reversal of Fortune. EPI
Briefing Paper 220 18 Sept. 2008.
15
Foreclosures

• Nearly half of all subprime loans went to African
  American and Latino borrowers --- even though
  many qualified for prime loans.
• African American and Latino homeowners are
  expected to lose between 164 - 213 billion in
  assets due to the crisis.

United for a Fair Economy, Foreclosed State of
the Dream 2008
16
Foreclosures and Race in Cleveland
Maps produced and adapted from Charles Bromley,
SAGES Presidential Fellow, Case Western University
16
17

• In this economy, people of color benefit the
  least compared to their white counterparts during
  economic booms and suffer disproportionally more
  during economic downturns.
• As W.E.B. DuBois once said,
• To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race
  in a land of dollars is the very bottom of
  hardships.

http//www.arc.org/images/fr08/compact/ARC_compact
_economy.pdf
18
For Additional Information
www.KirwanInstitute.org
www.FairRecovery.org