Dive Brief:
- New Federal Reserve data suggests that more black men and women lose their jobs than other racial groups when there are economic downturns, reports Bloomberg.
- The report shows that black Americans have experienced unemployment numbers that follow economic patterns almost directly. Educational levels bear no difference.
- Institutional discrimination may play a large part in this issue, Bloomberg notes. For example, black men are more likely to be incarcerated than whites, which makes landing steady work difficult after release.
Dive Insight:
Despite advancements in the way the world embraces diversity, reports like this from the Federal Reserve show that bias still holds powerful sway over the way recruiters obtain talent.
The note about incarceration negatively impacting job prospects for black men, especially, reflects growing interest in the "ban the box" movement, which aims to remove admission of felony crimes from the job application process. So far, Utah is the 25th and latest state to adopt a "ban the box" law for government jobs. More than 150 cities and counties nationwide are impacted by such laws. Indiana, however, was the first state so far to preempt local ban-the-box ordinances.
But for "ban the box" to work, employers must enforce thorough anti-discrimination policies; a slew of large companies have been accused of a variety of bad behaviors recently. For example, 175 CNN employees sued the media company, claiming it was "rife with racism." Facebook as well was charged with discriminatory housing and job ads.
