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So all those factors, when you combine them and take a young black high school dropout, low-income male, you're talking 5 percent employment. Paul Solman: 5 pe
by jlgreco 13y ago
So all those factors, when you combine them and take a young black high school dropout, low-income male, you're talking 5 percent employment.
Paul Solman: 5 percent?
Andrew Sum: Yes.
Paul Solman: 95 percent unemployment rate?
Andrew Sum: Jobless. Not all of them would be classified as [unemployed], but they're not working. In other words, you could just say, "I gave up looking for work," which a lot of them do, but only 5 percent are working. Yes, 5 percent.
Another factor is geography. Last year, in the summer in [Washington,] D.C., only 15 percent of the kids worked; California, only 20 percent; Arizona and large parts of the south, 20 percent. Yet in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, you had 50 percent to 55 percent of those kids working.
This part is unclear to me. Is the "those kids" in the last section (about the geographic factor) still referring to the "young black highschool dropouts", or to a more general group again?
- recuter 13y agoThere are fewer young black people in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska which happen to have higher youth employment rates. So that partially accounts for it. But still, 95 percent..
- jlgreco 13y agoYeah, black youth unemployment rates in those states won't have much influence since the black population in those states is much smaller. However if black youth unemployment rates in those states is better than the national rates (it is unclear if the article is claiming this or not), then it is probably worth looking into what these states are doing that makes this the case.
- ritchiea 13y agoCompetition is much higher in urban areas. There are more black families in urban areas and thus there are more black dropouts while simultaneously urban areas have become hip destinations for college graduates. I know 20-somethings in NYC with liberal arts and art degrees that still work in retail or food services. And even many of my friends who no longer perform jobs like that did for several months to over a year while they sought out other work. I don't think this is as much of a phenomenon in Montana, the Dakotas and Iowa because they don't have a high rate of 20-somethings entering the workforce from other parts of the country.
- krakensden 13y agoThere is an oil and natural gas boom in most of those states- the jobs pay quite well and don't really require any education. So theoretically either- but I suspect he actually means 'high school age persons in the aforementioned states'.