October 14, 2010 | 4:36 PM | By

Employment Prospects Worsen for some DC Residents

FILED UNDER: The People, Jobs, Poverty, Race and Class

The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute’s report, “Packing a Punch: The Recession Hit African-American and Non-College Educated DC Residents Particularly Hard” is a must-read if you’re concerned with the disparities that affect this city:

Looking over a longer-term period, employment prospects have worsened noticeably over the past two decades for Black District residents and for residents with no post-secondary education. For these residents, job conditions have worsened even in periods when DC’s overall economy was growing.

– Employment among African-American DC residents has fallen steadily since the late 1980s. The employment rate fell from 62 percent in 1988 to 56 percent in 2000 and to 49.5 percent in 2009. (The employment rate is the share of adults with a job.) If employment had not fallen since the late 1980s, some 31,000 additional African-American residents would be working today. Meanwhile, the employment rate for white residents has remained relatively steady.

WAMU’s Patrick Madden’s story, here.

About the author

DCentric was created to examine the ways race and class interact in Washington, D.C., a city with a vibrant mix of cultures and neighborhoods. Your guides to the changing district are reporters Anna John and Elahe Izadi. View all posts by Anna →