New data from the Oregon Employment Department indicates a major racial disparity in the state’s unemployment rates.
New data from the Oregon Employment Department indicates a major racial disparity in the state’s unemployment rates.
During 2012, the average unemployment rate for whites in Oregon was 8.7 percent. For Latinos, it was 11.4 percent. And for African Americans, it was 18.4 percent. That’s close to a ten-percentage gap between Oregon’s white and black job-seekers.
Michael Alexander of the Urban League of Portland says he’s concerned about making sure the economic recovery is equitable. “Is there anybody within the greater Portland community or even the overall state, who would look at the disparity in those numbers, during a period when we’re going through some recovery, and be comfortable with it?”
Read more at OPB.
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