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Written by Manfred Keil, Visiting Research Fellow
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Tuesday, 29 December 2009 15:03 |
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The NAACP and other black organizations have urged President Obama to focus on the special problems of black workers during this long recession. The president said no, on the grounds that the soaring unemployment rate has hit all components of the labor force hard.
But there may be more to the issue than the notion that a severe recession is “an equal-opportunity un-employer.” In a cruel twist, ill-timed efforts to raise the federal minimum wage appear to have hit teen-agers (above all minority teenagers) especially hard.
The current recession started in December 2007. While the aggregate unemployment rate has not yet reached the post World War II peak of 10.8 percent it occupied in late 1982, younger workers have already fared worse.
The figure shows the behavior of teenage unemployment rates, which reached a record high in September of 25.9 percent for 16-19 year olds in the labor market. Young African Americans experienced an even higher level, 40 percent.
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This article is from the December 21 issue of Research Reports.
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