-Caveat Lector-
America's invisible
unemployed Rosy job statistics ignore black
males trapped in the 'idleness index'
By Joe Davidson
MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 - The good news is the black
unemployment rate is at an all-time low. The bad news is it might be so low
because the black incarceration rate is so high.
Unemployment is down for everybody, while incarceration is up. And the
number of black men behind bars - not included in jobless statistics, skews
the picture.
VICE PRESIDENT Al Gore, seeking credit for the good economy in this
presidential race, has good reason to brag that "we've got the lowest
African-American.unemployment rates ever in history." But what he doesn't
say, and may not realize, is that the low unemployment rate apparently is
directly related to the massive increase in the imprisonment of African
American men - much of it during the Clinton/Gore years.
INVISIBLE UNEMPLOYED
George Cave, an economist writing for the Joint Center for Political
and Economic Studies, says the low jobless rates obscure a view of black
male economic activity that is much more troubling than the 7 percent black
unemployment figure indicates. When calculating unemployment rates, the
Labor Department does not count prisoners. They are not included in the
definition of the labor force, because that definition only includes people
actively looking for work. Also excluded are those who are so discouraged
about the inability to find work that they no longer engage in the job hunt.
Because of the steep jump in incarceration in recent years, the
number of African American men in the labor force has fallen. A smaller
labor force during good economic times results in lower unemployment rates.
November 3, 2000
Labor Secretary Alexis Herman talks with CNBC about the unemployment rate,
which held steady at a three-decade low of 3.9 percent and what that means
for the U.S. economy.
"Record high rates of imprisonment among African American men.,"
Cave argues, "paint a very misleading picture of the true economic condition
of black men."
The labor force definition "masks the impact of incarceration on the
economic well-being of African Americans in two ways," he adds. "First, it
hides the unemployment of men who could not find work before they were
locked behind bars; and second, it completely omits the disemployment of men
who were working before they entered prison."
THE IDLENESS INDEX
Being an economist, Cave uses a different statistical device to
measure the economic condition of black men and his way does not paint a
pretty picture. "If incarceration rates and unemployment are added together
to produce a more meaningful statistic, a combined index of economic
idleness," he says "that index would show little actual improvement in
idleness among black men since the 1980s."
Here's how he figures that: 3.5 percent of black men were
incarcerated in 1985, when 13.2 percent were unemployed. Add those two and
16.7 is the idleness index.
Fast forward to 1996, the last year for which Cave could find
incarceration rates by race and sex. By then, America had locked up 6.6
percent of the black male population, but the unemployment rate had dropped
to 9.4 percent. Combining those two produces an idleness rate of 16
percent - not much of an improvement for a period that enjoyed a significant
unemployment drop.
Statistics being what they are, the idleness index probably doesn't
give a complete picture of any group's economic status. Certainly,
unemployment is down for everybody, while incarceration is up generally. And
it's likely that some of those behind bars weren't looking for work before
they landed in the pokey.
The index, however, does point to one more serious problem with a
criminal justice system that relies more on punishment than crime
prevention. And the idleness index is a particular problem for black men,
because various studies show the system is filled with injustices for
African Americans who repeatedly are treated more harshly for similar
offenses - from moving violations to capital crimes - than whites.
CATASTROPHE TO COME?
After the inmates are released, the idleness index will continue to
impact them. Even if incarceration rates drop, and certainly if the economy
cools, "unemployment rates will rise to reflect some of the lasting economic
impact of incarceration," Cave predicts. Those who had jobs before their
imprisonment stand a good chance of joining the unemployed upon release,
because they may not have been able to maintain their skills. Employers in a
soft economy will avoid ex-cons when the labor pool provides more workers
without a rap sheet.
All this amounts to one more way, Cave warns, that "as a society,
what we are witnessing is a national catastrophe in the making."
Joe Davidson is a journalist whose commentaries are heard on National Public
Radio. He is a regular contributor to MSNBC.com, specializing in culture and
the law.
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