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 Illinois had the nation’s highest black
unemployment rate in 2016, according to annual
Illinois had the nation’s highest black
unemployment rate in 2016, according to annual unemployment data released by the
federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS. Only 51 percent of black adults
reported having some form of work in Illinois, highlighting an economic crisis
that far too few political leaders are talking about. The BLS data support the
conclusions in recent quarterly reports from the Economic Policy Institute,
which have pointed to Illinois as having the nation’s highest black
unemployment.
Illinois’ weak job creation has a significant effect on the black community,
especially due to manufacturing job losses in the Chicago area and a lack of
construction job opportunities. Illinois’ black unemployment rate was 12.7
percent in 2016, compared with 6.7 percent for Latinos and 5 percent for whites.
Illinois’ 12.7 percent black jobless rate is the highest in the U.S., tied with
Nevada. However, Illinois’ black population is seven times as large as Nevada’s,
meaning Illinois’ crisis is playing out on a much larger scale. Illinois’
neighboring states achieved much lower black jobless rates than Illinois in
2016. (BLS does not calculate a black unemployment rate for Iowa, however,
because the state’s black population does not constitute a sample large enough
to be included in the BLS survey.)
The weighted average black jobless rate for all other states is 8.1 percent, and
the weighted average among Illinois’ border states is 8.9 percent.
Perhaps equally telling is Illinois’ black
employment rate – the percentage of black adults who are engaged in some form of
work. Illinois’ black employment rate is only 51.2 percent, meaning that just
over half of Illinois’ adult black residents have some form of work. Michigan is
the only state with a lower black employment rate than Illinois.
The weighted average black employment rate for other states is 56.8 percent, and
the weighted average among Illinois’ border states is 59.2 percent.
Black employment in Illinois fell by 18,000 people
from 2015 to 2016, and the number of black workers in Illinois’ labor force
shrank by 16,000. Despite the shrinking workforce, the black unemployment rate
increased to 12.7 percent from 12.2 percent year over year.
The number of black people working in Illinois has been in decline since the
turn of the century. There were 77,000 fewer blacks working in Illinois in 2016
compared with 2000, a shocking 10 percent decline in total employment. By
comparison, Illinois’ combined white and Latino employment is actually up by
272,000 since 2000, according to the BLS’ annual average data.
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Similarly, the recovery in black
employment over the Great Recession era lags that of the rest of the
state. Black employment is still down 5.1 percent compared with its
pre-recession high.
Illinois’ black community deserves
solutions
The Illinois General Assembly has largely ignored the fact that
Illinois has the nation’s highest black unemployment rate. The
problem should be discussed, studied and solved. And the ineffective
solutions of the past aren’t going to fix it.
Black families deserve robust school choice so they can opt out of
failing schools. And minimum wage hikes should be reconsidered –
research finds overwhelming evidence that minimum wage hikes keep
low-skilled and minority workers out of starter jobs. Minimum wage
hikes will continue to create a barrier to entry to valuable first
job opportunities so long as failing schools continue to do a poor
job preparing young adults for the workforce.
Anti-growth industrial policies that hurt black families should also
be reconsidered, especially the prevailing wage law and the taxes
and regulations that drive away manufacturing jobs. These policy
failures overwhelmingly affect black job opportunities. Research
shows that prevailing wage laws result in lower wages for black
construction workers and less construction work for black laborers.
And Illinois’ manufacturing job losses, much the result of state and
local policy failures, drive black families to seek industrial work
in northwest Indiana and in Southern states.
Finally, commonsense reforms to Illinois’ criminal justice system
and occupational licensing regulations will help reduce Illinois’
incarceration rate and eliminate hurdles that prevent black
Illinoisans from landing a job after having been convicted of a
crime. Nearly 60 percent of Illinois’ prison population is black,
according to the Illinois Department of Corrections, and therefore
black Illinoisans are more likely to face barriers to job
opportunities that affect people with felony records.
Addressing the nation’s highest black unemployment rate should be a
top priority for Illinois lawmakers, who should tackle the problem
with policy solutions that will have a positive impact on black
families. Otherwise, black neighborhoods will continue to depopulate
as families move east to Indiana and migrate back to the South in
search of better opportunities.
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