Life
Black unemployment: Are our voices loud enough?
OPINION – Too often, the discussion about the economy is led by people in Washington — legislators, political figureheads, economists…
We were all held in a state of suspense over the last several weeks during the recent debt ceiling debate, as people waited with baited breath to see what would happen with their Social Security payments, Medicare, and interest rates as we cut it close to the deadline of “financial doom.”
Now that the debt debate is over, at least until 2013, many Americans can return to their daily lives. But for far too many, those daily lives are filled with unending job searches and persistent unemployment.
Economists all over TV and radio have been saying that the debt deal did nothing to address unemployment. So now, the question is, will we see a shift in focus to the biggest issue facing our country: jobs? The answer has to be a resounding yes.
In July 2011, the U.S. Labor Department reported that 154,000 private sector jobs were added to the market, better than June, but not enough in light of the fact that there are 14 million unemployed people across the country.
Despite the clear crisis, even job creation can quickly turn into a partisan issue, with dissenting views within the two major political parties about how to tackle unemployment.
