High Black Unemployment Continues to Spread

Blacks in metropolitan areas suffer from higher jobless rates

News Flash from Captain Obvious! A large number of black people were already broke and struggling before economists and news media declared that unemployment was high and a recession was coming.

The Economic Policy Institute has stats that are probably aren't going to surprise people, but hopefully acts as a reminder to black people nationwide: We need jobs.

Their latest findings show that in 2007, before the 2008 meltdown, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and St. Louis were already suffering from a recession and had black unemployment rates of 10% and higher. In 2010, those same areas saw that rate double to 20% and higher, resembling conditions of the Great Depression.

In contrast Sun Belt cities like Charlotte, Tampa, Miami and Las Vegas were doing relatively well in 2007, boasting black unemployment rates that were below the national average. But four years later, they find themselves with some of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

Oh yeah, it's really bad if you're black and live in Milwaukee. They have the biggest black-to-white unemployment ratio with a disparity of 3.8-to-1. Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. aren't doing too much better -- they all have ratios of 2-to-1 or higher.

Moral of the story? Move to the Corn Belt. Apparently all of the jobs are in North Dakota, South Datoka, Utah, Wyoming and Utah.