How Social Networks Drive Black Unemployment
It’s easy to believe the worst is over in the economic downturn. But for African-Americans, the pain continues — over 13 percent of black workers are unemployed, nearly twice the national average. And that’s not a new development: regardless of the economy, job prospects for African-Americans have long been significantly worse than for the country as a whole.
The most obvious explanation for this entrenched disparity is racial discrimination. But in my research I have found a somewhat different culprit: favoritism. Getting an inside edge by using help from family and friends is a powerful, hidden force driving inequality in the United States.
Such favoritism has a strong racial component. Through such seemingly innocuous networking, white Americans tend to help other whites, because social resources are concentrated among whites. If African-Americans are not part of the same networks, they will have a harder time finding decent jobs.
There’s no question that discrimination is still a problem in the American economy. But whites helping other whites is not the same as discrimination, and it is not illegal. Yet it may have a powerful effect on the access that African-Americans and other minorities have to good jobs, or even to the job market itself.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/how-social-networks-drive-black-unemployment/?hp
Do you know someone who has helped you get a job? Family, friends, acquaintances? If you’re white, well, that means you’re a raaaaacist.
Interesting. The entire article was premised on obtaining a job based on who you know and them being the same race (primarily white) was deemed discrimination and racism.