Black males locked out of jobs: white ex-cons more likely to find work than black counterparts.New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. is the land of opportunity--as long as you're not a black male with a criminal record. A new study from a team of Princeton University Princeton University, at Princeton, N.J.; coeducational; chartered 1746, opened 1747, rechartered 1748, called the College of New Jersey until 1896. Schools and Research Facilities sociology professors revealed that race and criminal history continue to play a role in gaining employment. Professors Bruce Western and Devah Pager 1. (hardware, communications) pager - (Or "beeper", "bleeper" (UK?)) A small wireless receiver that, when triggered (generally via phone), will beep or vibrate (un)pleasantly. set out to study the impact of discrimination on young men in low-wage job markets. They found that rising inequality, incarceration Confinement in a jail or prison; imprisonment. Police officers and other law enforcement officers are authorized by federal, state, and local lawmakers to arrest and confine persons suspected of crimes. The judicial system is authorized to confine persons convicted of crimes. rates, and immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. contribute to a population of candidates with experiences very different than those of the employer. As part of the study, which began in February 2004, 13 applicants went on nearly 3,500 job interviews with 1,470 private companies. All jobs were entry level. The men were given the same qualifications and experience, while criminal history was randomly assigned. The most striking results of the study were that white males with criminal records were just as likely as blacks with no criminal history to find employment. Also, having a criminal record reduced the number of positive responses from employers by 57% for black applicants but only by 35% for their white counterparts. Latinos also fared better than blacks. "A felony conviction confers roughly the same penalty to job applicants as does minority status," wrote Pager and Western in Discrimination in Low-Wage Labor Markets labor market A place where labor is exchanged for wages; an LM is defined by geography, education and technical expertise, occupation, licensure or certification requirements, and job experience . "These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that employer discrimination along the lines of race, ethnicity, and criminal conviction status remains a salient source of inequality in contemporary urban labor markets." Gerald D. Jaynes, a member of the BLACK ENTERPRISE Board of Economists, says he is not surprised by the results. "What's going on What's Going On is a record by American soul singer Marvin Gaye. Released on May 21, 1971 (see 1971 in music), What's Going On reflected the beginning of a new trend in soul music. here is the employer thinks, 'I have a young white man who made a mistake. I can give him a second chance. On the other hand I have a young black man who grew up in the ghetto committing crime and I don't want to take a chance,'" says Jaynes. Western says he hopes the study highlights these issues to the entire nation. "I hope our research can alert people to the problems of discrimination," he says. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion