For the past two years the national
conversation regarding unemployment in America has focused on the need for
those without a job or under-employed to obtain more skills and more training. This has become a rallying cry
for justifying why the unemployment numbers remain high, especially among
populations of color.
The purpose of this article is to
dispel or to an extent change the direction of the conversation about the
traits of the unemployed. I am especially targeting those who use an uninformed
description of the unemployed and under-employed to frame discussions on the
rate of joblessness in America. First, I want to make it extremely clear that I
agree education and training has a place in reducing under-employment and yes
it can impact unemployment. However, it is the broad brush by which the concept
of training and skill attainment is discussed that gives me pause for alarm. I
have seen the over-reliance of the belief that those unemployed or under
employed simply lack the skills of those that have employment. Typically this
is used as a means to justify why we see double digit unemployment rates in segments
of the population like African Americans and Hispanics.
In an effort to address this issue of
untrained Americans, President Obama has set-a-side in his budget plan of nearly
eight billion dollars for community colleges to serve as America’s
Re-Training Academies, while continuing to serve as the primary gateway to
postsecondary access and higher education attainment. President Obama’s funding
of the new, but well established traditional mission of community colleges is
both daring and noble. The president’s support of America’s community colleges
continues in a long line of POTUS who understood the value community colleges
bring to our nation, one community at a time. However, new money for the
expansion of postsecondary opportunities will mean little if at the end of the
re-train/educate pipeline there are no jobs.
My concern and that of many I have
spoken to over the years is a straightforward one. It is grounded in the fact
that each and every unemployed person is some how locked in this universal
description of being untrained, unskilled and to a large measurement lacking a
strong foundation in today’s technology. This is especially placed at the feet
of those unemployed who happen to be people of color. These assertions and
hyperboles are frequently uttered from the political pundits, talking heads,
and political contributors for this network or that network.
My retort to those political pundits,
talking heads, political contributors and political leaders on each side of the
isle, “you really have no clue as to the skills of the unemployed.” I apologize
for being so direct, but it seems in this season of non reason, to steal a line
from an upcoming book by the same name, written by M. Shelly Robinson,
political leaders and the media really have not wanted or dared to examine the
depth of the issue of the unemployed and their inability to secure employment.
I met a woman several years ago, who was laid off from a mid-level
university in 2005. She held a prominent management position at the university
and at the time had years of experience in personnel, project management, IT
and a host of others. She possesses a master’s degree in Human Resources, from
a top university in the state of Maryland. She has been unemployed for seven
years. That is right seven years. She
was able to secure one part-time job, a seasonal position with a large retailer
where she was responsible for cleaning restrooms after store hours on the
11pm-8am shift. Now given the definition often used by those in the media to
justify why a person like the one described above cannot secure employment,
hinges on the fact she lacks skills that suggest she can compete in today’s job
market.
The fact is
their contention that she is without skills would be completely and utterly
wrong. Since the time of her unemployment, this mid 40, highly educated
minority woman has gained the following skills through her attempts to start
her own business and volunteering at local organizations.
Since the time
of her unemployment in January 2005, she has gained the following skills:
· Entered doctoral studies (Higher
Education)
· TV production
· TV editing
· Filming
· Radio Producer “Talk and Music”
· Script writing
· Event planning
· Guest development
· Social Media
· Story board writing
· Publishing
· Publication layout
· Interviewing of program guest
· Writer
· Blogger
Prior to being
laid off in 2005, this unemployed educated mother of three and the wife of an
educator had skills in the following area:
- Management
- Labor Relations
- Custom Services
- Staff Development
- Finance Management
- Personnel
- Computer operations
- IT
- Project Management
- Student Advisement
- Inventory Management
- Call Center Management
- Policy and Procedure
Development
I could go on
listing her many qualifications, but I am sure you get the point. This woman
who is a minority possessed skills that do not become obsolete, but are
typically needed by most organizations seeking to maintain a strong and viable infrastructure.
So, why has this person been unable to
secure employment beyond a part-time seasonal position cleaning toilets?
It is my declaration
that there are other factors behind the high rate of unemployed and
under-employed minorities. There is little empirical evidence to show that the
unemployment rate for educated and skill minorities is less for uneducated and be
unskilled majority populations. Populations
of color have found the job market to unfriendly to them especially to those
who are educated and skilled.
Prior to
completing this article, I contacted the woman who had been unemployed for
seven years to see if her employment status had changed. She indicated it had
not. She also stated she had spoken with a state unemployment counselor who
suggested she enroll in a Medical Billing/Coding program at the local community
college. The counselor believed it was her best and only chance to ever work
again.
Dr. Mike Robinson is the creator of the
National Men Make A Difference Day for Student Success and the host of Parent
Talk Live. Dr. Robinson is a leading voice/expert on parental engagement and community
outreach in education. He is also the CO- CEO ofForest Of The
Rain Productions, an Internet communication
company, whose mission is to expand the voices in and about education.
