A college degree, but not a collge job.

Why the College Degree Hiring Gap Is Not Race

by Lewis Loflin

That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges, may seem to some people a jarring contrast to decades of progress by blacks, culminating in President Obama's election.

But there is ample evidence that racial inequities remain when it comes to employment. Black joblessness has long far outstripped that of whites. And strikingly, the disparity for the first 10 months of this year, as the recession has dragged on, has been even more pronounced for those with college degrees, compared with those without. Education, it seems, does not level the playing field - in fact, it appears to have made it more uneven...

So claims the New York Times December 1, 2009. As usual the liberal press remains obsessed by race. The mere fact that jobs or anything else is not strictly allocated on the basis of race and gender brings accusations of white racism. But is it really racism?

They present the story of Johnny R. Williams, 30 with an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He claims he can't get a job because he is black. He scrubs his resume of any hint of being black and says, "If they're going to X me, I'd like to at least get in the door first." That is ironic when better qualified white students are denied entrance into elite colleges to make way for less qualified minorities. Some have been known to alter their paperwork to appear non-white.

They also present the story of Barry Jabbar Sykes. Jabbar has a degree in mathematics from Morehouse College, a black college in Atlanta. He now goes by Barry J. Sykes and says, "Barry sounds like I could be from Ireland." He has always gone by Jabbar.

The entire article goes on and on with the disparity between white and black employment and hiring. The article also complained that "the matter of how many jobs, especially higher-level ones, are never even posted and depend on word-of-mouth and informal networks, in many cases leaving blacks at a disadvantage. A recent study published in the academic journal Social Problems found that white males receive substantially more job leads for high-level supervisory positions than women and members of minorities."

This is true everywhere. White people off the street without the political or personal connections won't get the jobs either. Most companies, the government, academia, etc. all hire from the inside for the good jobs. Another problem even the Times pointed out was "playing the race card" and how many of the people they interviewed considered using it. This is a legitimate reason not to hire someone with that hanging over a company when things don't go the way the government or the New York Times thinks it should. That's not racism, but fear of government meddling in the company.

To further quote,

Certainly, they (the blacks interviewed) conceded, there are times when their race can be beneficial, particularly with companies that have diversity programs. But many said they sensed that such opportunities had been cut back over the years and even more during the downturn. Others speculated there was now more of a tendency to deem diversity unnecessary after Mr. Obama's triumph.

Why do blacks deserve a job just on the basis of diversity? So why is racism OK when it benefits selected racial minorities at the expense of better qualified whites? Because of this institutional anti-white racism among many wealthy elites, there is indeed a growing backlash.

It's Not About Race

Let us move ahead to the New York Times July 6, 2010 article American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation. Here we are presented with story of Scott Nicholson from Grafton, Mass. Scott, 24, is a graduate of Colgate University and winner of a dean's award for academic excellence.

He is far more qualified than Johnny or Jabbar and he can't get a job either. The only position he even got an offer for after several interviews was as an associate claims adjustor with an insurance company for $40,000 a year. That is nothing for his qualifications. Scott is white, and for every Johnny and Jabbar, there are probably 20 Scotts.

But to further quote the New York Times in July,

For young adults, the prospects in the workplace, even for the college-educated, have rarely been so bleak. Apart from the 14 percent who are unemployed and seeking work, as Scott Nicholson is, 23 percent are not even seeking a job, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total, 37 percent, is the highest in more than three decades and a rate reminiscent of the 1930s.

The college-educated among these young adults are better off. But nearly 17 percent are either unemployed or not seeking work, a record level (although some are in graduate school). The unemployment rate for college-educated young adults, 5.5 percent, is nearly double what it was on the eve of the Great Recession, in 2007, and the highest level - by almost two percentage points - since the bureau started to keep records in 1994 for those with at least four years of college.

So why is it a terrible jobs market for college graduates in July 2010 when things were supposed to have improved under President Obama, yet it's all about racism in December 2009?

To further quote,

The Great Depression damaged the self-confidence of the young, and that is beginning to happen now, according to pollsters, sociologists and economists. Young men in particular lost a sense of direction, Glen H. Elder Jr., a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, found in his study, "Children of the Great Depression." In some cases they were forced into work they did not want...

The outlook this time is not so clear. Starved for jobs at adequate pay, the millennials tend to seek refuge in college and in the military and to put off marriage and child-bearing. Those who are working often stay with the jobs they have rather than jump to better paying but less secure ones, as young people seeking advancement normally do. And they are increasingly willing to forgo raises, or to settle for small ones.

So race has nothing to do with the present job woes of blacks. Whites such as Scott even with an affluent family with connections can't really get a job either. This constant harping on race-race-race is just propaganda from liberal racists using this issue for their political ends.

The racial hiring gap exists because there are far more better qualified whites than blacks. In fact Jews and Asians have far higher numbers in proportion to their population in many professions than whites do. So why not play the racism card with Jews and Asians?

Ref. July 6, 2010 American Dream Is Elusive for New Generation New York Times
December 1, 2009 In Job Hunt, College Degree Can't Close Racial Gap New York Times

Female victims of black violence.

Lewis Loflin

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