Jobs status was the essenc last YouTube broadcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icmpJSV7C8E the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported recently that the national unemployment rate has remained low at only 5.7%. Furthermore, BLS announced jobs gains in a wide range of sectors, including both Professional & Technical Services and Manufacturing, which incorporate the six niches my executive recruitment firm covers in R&D, engineering, scientific, technical, IT and manufacturing recruiting. However, is the employment picture as rosy as BLS is painting it?
Many statistics say “NO.” For example, if you include both:
a) Those Americans that are involuntarily working part-time (and want full-time jobs)
b) Those that have just given up looking for work, the figure almost doubles to 11.3%!
Additionally, a new report found that young African-Americans who toiled to obtain a four-year degree have a 12.4% unemployment rate versus 5.6% for their white counterparts! Furthermore, they are finding it a lot harder to land jobs that actually utilize their degrees. This is even true for African-American graduates in the STEM fields of science, engineering, math and technology!
The report is entitled, “A College Degree is No Guarantee.” One of the co-authors, John Schmitt, who is a senior economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research shared this dire reality, “they graduated high school like they were told. They went to college and graduated. They entered the labor market, but they are more likely to be unemployed than their white counterparts.”
Many of these African-American graduates were the first in their families to attend college so they bear heavy expectations as well as responsibilities to succeed. Unfortunately, when their positive outcome (college graduation) doesn’t translate into an equally positive conclusion (landing a jobs), this creates additional stress on them.
There are many reasons for this employment gap including black college graduates may not have strong job networks, they may lack the experience to sail across the corporate world or some companies still continue to discriminate in their hiring practices. Whatever the reason, my volunteer work at CAN TV (Chicago’s public access network), centers on helping minority graduates to navigate the job market. It focuses on my 12 Commandments of Interviewing. In the process, I constantly remind my students that life is not fair and the world does not revolve around them! Instead of getting angry, I recommend that they work twice as hard as everyone else. This is the case because hard work, NOT grand plans, are going to help you to succeed! To that end, you need to have a plan and work that plan. The 12 Commandments can provide you the plan. Then you need to be the engine for that plan’s success!
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?
