Call for hearingfs i on African American Male Unemployment in Chicago
WHEREAS, The City Council of the City of Chicago is responsible for implementing policies that promote equality and improve the well-being of all of Chicago's residents; and
WHEREAS, There exists significant disparities in employment rates between African American males and other demographic groups in the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, The University of Illinois at Chicago's Great Cities Institute reported that 47%- nearly half - of 20- to 24-year-old black men in Chicago, and 44% in Illinois, were out of school and out of work in 2014, compared with 20% of Hispanic men and 10% of Caucasian men in the same age group; and
WHEREAS, This report indicates that the highest concentration of youth unemployment is in neighborhoods on the city's south and west sides, where residents are ninety percent African American; and
WHEREAS, According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security's 2016 Women and Minorities Report, Illinois' average annual unemployment rate was 15.11% for African American men, 6.9% for Hispanic men and 5.4% for Caucasian men; and
WHEREAS, Illinois has the highest black unemployment rate in the country according to a the Economic Policy Institute; and
WHEREAS, African-American men in Illinois have reported the highest unemployment rates among all racial groups and genders (with the exception of 2 years) since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking this data in 1981; and
WHEREAS, The issue of African American joblessness is not only an problem in Chicago, but it is a reflection of the widespread systemic economic inequality facing African American males on the state and national level; and
WHEREAS, Recent studies have shown joblessness has measurable effects on an individual's well-being, particularly on the proliferation of criminal behavior; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago has many tools to fight African American unemployment as the University of Chicago Crime Lab ...
Click here for full text