Barriers to opportunity in today’s America
“Labor market barriers associated income, race and education: Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen recently noted that unemployment rates ‘averaged 13 percent in low- and moderate income communities from 2011 through 2015, compared with 7.3 percent in higher-income communities.’ Yellen also noted that in majority-minority areas, the jobless rate was 14.3 percent, 2011-15. The share of 25- to 54-year-old workers in these areas was nearly 9 percentage points lower than in non-majority-minority communities. Racial disparities exist in unemployment rates even controlling for education. Among whites with terminal high school degrees, unemployment was about 5 percent in 2015. For blacks, it was twice that level. Blacks with at least bachelor’s degrees have unemployment rates of 4.1 percent compared with 2.4 percent for whites with at least bachelor’s degrees.”