Catherwood LibraryILR School

Even as the economy bounces back from the 2001 recession, minorities still remain behind whites in employment and earnings. Unemployment has specifically been a struggle for many African-Americans. The unemployment rate for African-Americans is nearly double that of whites. Hispanic unemployment is slightly lower, but their median wage has declined in all but one of the past eight quarters. According to William Rodgers, professor at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, much of this can be explained by the fact that minorities on average have less education, fewer skills, face discrimination in the labor markets and live in economically depressed communities.