With the economy now in peril, the future for African Americans rests even more heavily upon one critical issue: jobs.

“On all major economic indicators – income, wages, employment and poverty – African Americans were worse off in 2007 than they were in 2000,” Algernon Austin states in the EPI briefing paper.

“The current economic downturn and the subprime mortgage crisis bode ill for the immediate future for African Americans.

The overall social well-being of African-American communities depends upon strong job growth. The historical evidence shows clearly that strong job and wage growth are keys to reducing black poverty.”

Among the paper’s other key findings:

The African-American median family income declined by $404, or 1 percent, between 2000 and 2007.

Worker productivity grew 19.2 percent between 2000 and 2007, but wage growth for American workers generally, and African-American workers specifically,has stagnated.

The African-American unemployment rate increased by .07 percentage points between 2000 and 2007 while the rate of African-American employment declined 2.4 percentage points. (Individuals who have dropped out of the labor market and are no longer looking for jobs are not counted amount the unemployed.)

Crime and criminal justice policies are shaping the economic future for the African- American community, as ex-offenders have a more difficult time of finding work.

A tale of two decades

In the 1990s, prosperous times on Wall Street led to better days on Main Street. The labor market was tight, producing higher employment levels for African Americans. Crime dropped, as did the African-American poverty rate. Homeownership, which was and is the major source of wealth-building for Africans, was on the rise.

That has changed, in part, because the subprime mortgage crisis hit the African- American community harder than others. The African-American homeownership rate fell from its peak of 49.1 percent in 2004 to 47.2 percent in 2007. Home values in some African-American neighborhoods declined at a faster pace as foreclosed properties sat empty, becoming havens for the homeless and for drug users.

“High level of foreclosures lead to increased vandalism and crime and declining tax revenues for communities,” Austin said.

Moving forward

The economic research and indicators make a compelling argument: Jobs are the key issue, Austin argues. When the employment rate rises in the African-American community, he notes, other challenges are more easily resolved.

“Black America needs a national strategy for black full employment,” Austin concluded.

“In other words, our national goal should be to have the black unemployment rate sustained below 5 percent. When the American economy experiences strong job growth and full-employment like we saw in the late 1990s, average Americans of all races benefit with higher rates of employment, higher wages, and lower poverty rates. But even in the peak year of 200, when the total unemployment rate was at 4 percent, the black unemployment rate was at 7.6 percent. The total unemployment rate masks substantial racial disparities.

“If we were to reduce the black unemployment rate to below 5 percent, there would be amazing progress for black America.”

(Linda S. Wallace is The Cultural Coach. Her Web site is www.theculturalcoach.com. Her blog, Cultural IQ, is featured at www.tristatedefender.com)