ThinkProgress: Getting A College Degree Won’t Protect Black Workers From The Economy’s Racial Barriers

Blacks on average face higher underemployment and unemployment rates than their White counterparts. Racial and gender discrimination in hiring is partly to blame. Read the rest of the article on ThinkProgress.

"The economy is heavily tilted against black people. In a study of entry-level job openings, equally qualified black job applicants were half as likely as white ones to get a call back or an offer. Jobs that drug test are more likely to hire black workers because without the tests, they assume black applicants use drugs. While black workers make up 32 percent of the workforce, they make up 42 percent of minimum wage workers.

Black women have been particularly dogged in recent years in graduating college: they made up two-thirds of all black students who finished a Bachelor’s Degree in 2010 and 71 percent with a Master’s. But they still struggle in other ways: when they’re working full-time, year-round, they make 64 percent of what white men make and less than both white women and black men."

In another study, researchers found that in online sales Americans would rather do business with Whites than Blacks.

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