Economy: May 2009 Archives

Underneath the headlines trumpeting signs of "recovery" are sobering figures on the bottom rungs of the economy. The Economic Policy Institute projects calculates that high rates of joblessness have resulted in a 7.8 million deficit in payroll employment.

Between 2009 and mid-2010, the unemployment rate is expected to climb from about 13 percent to 18 percent for Blacks, and Latino and Asian workers will see similar spikes. More than half of Black children will be living in poverty, up from 35 percent in 2007.

At the same time, the Obama administration's recovery task force says it will focus on the creation of green jobs in the clean energy sectors. The initiative dovetails with the racial and economic justice agendas of community-based organizations.

But C. Nicole Mason of New York University's Women of Color Policy Network predicts the recovery resources coming out of Washington won't trickle down to those who most need it:

Homeownership has long been touted as the cornerstone of the American dream and a tool for narrowing the racial wealth gap. Has the foreclosure crisis extinguished that hope, or exposed the myths that drive it? The Pew Hispanic Center has examined the trajectory of the housing market and uncovered distinct impacts on people of color:

"Homeownership among Hispanics increased more quickly and for a longer time than homeownership overall. The Latino homeownership rate peaked at 49.8% in 2006, compared with 42.1% in 1995. It was unchanged in 2007 and fell to 48.9% in 2008.

"Black householders raised their homeownership rate from 41.9% in 1995 to 49.4% in 2004. By 2008, the black homeownership rate had decreased to 47.5%.

"Immigrant householders are less likely to be homeowners than those who are native-born, but their losses in recent years were relatively modest. Homeownership among immigrant householders increased from 46.5% in 1995 to 53.3% in 2006 and then fell to 52.9% in 2008....

"...blacks and native-born Hispanics are among those who experienced the sharpest reversal in homeownership in recent years."

So Black and Latino homeownership rose higher in the mortgage bubble, but in the end, vast gaps in ownership remain, with just about everyone taking a hit, some harder than others.

Calling all young POC writers, artists, bloggers! Where you at?

I was always told that young people my age had it easy growing up in a time of unprecedented material wealth. "You don't know how good you have it," I was told about people my age.

But in a matter of months the economy's come tumbling down on us. It has been brutal. This is our generation's great...recession.

How are you coping?

We want to hear stories from high school, college-aged (loosely defined!) folks who are surviving this recession. How are you making ends meet? How's the job market treating you? How are your parents and fam doing? What are your survival tips? Are you about to graduate from high school? College? How have your plans changed because of the recession?

Everyone's got their thinky macro theories, but we want to know how this recession has affected you and how you're getting through. This is our recession. Time to tell our stories.

POC teens and twentysomethings: send your 300-word, first person narratives OR visual art OR video blogs to submissions [at] colorlines [dot] com. We'll post as many of your stories as we can next week, when the Applied Research Center releases its new report, "Race and Recession: How Inequity Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules."

It pays to start early when trying to set kids on the right path. Comprehensive preschool programs have been linked to better outcomes for children later in life, with lower rates of criminal justice involvement and higher earnings.

Giving a boost to 4-year olds is also relatively politically viable, even in a faltering economy. According to an analysis by Pew Center on the States, most governors have have moved to protect or raise state spending on early education programs. The federal stimulus package also directs more education money into early childhood programs. There's an economic component in these initiatives as well: supporting families with children helps parents hold down jobs in a faltering economy.