Races in America
America is predominantly white (79.96%) and the other 20% is primarily made up of blacks(12.85%), 4.43% Asian, 0.97% Amerindian and Alaska native, 0.18% native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 1.61% two or more races.
The Hispanic population is put at 15.1% (largest minority) but is not a distilled ethnicity as the US Census Bureau defines Hispanics as persons of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin, including those of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, Spanish and Central or South American origin.
In America, the overarching theme of discrimination undoubtedly has the factor of race under its wing. In America, where the white people dominate the country, blacks and other minorities are discriminated against. Often, this discrimination results in a widening social gap, income inequality and different levels of social mobility between the different races.
In the case of socio-economic status, race would thus play a part in determining which rung a person would stand in the socio-economic ladder.
America is predominantly white (79.96%) and the other 20% is primarily made up of blacks(12.85%), 4.43% Asian, 0.97% Amerindian and Alaska native, 0.18% native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 1.61% two or more races.
The Hispanic population is put at 15.1% (largest minority) but is not a distilled ethnicity as the US Census Bureau defines Hispanics as persons of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin, including those of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, Spanish and Central or South American origin.
In America, the overarching theme of discrimination undoubtedly has the factor of race under its wing. In America, where the white people dominate the country, blacks and other minorities are discriminated against. Often, this discrimination results in a widening social gap, income inequality and different levels of social mobility between the different races.
In the case of socio-economic status, race would thus play a part in determining which rung a person would stand in the socio-economic ladder.
Overall Unemployment
In America, blacks and minorities would have a greater unemployment percentage than the whites. Black unemployment is most of the time, significantly more than that of white unemployment. Non-white Hispanic unemployment was 11.3% in 2011, as compared to the national unemployment rate of 8.8%. (Austin, 2012)
How do we know that this disparity is due to discrimination? After all, there are a list of factors that employers take into account when making hiring decisions, such as qualification, education level and work requirements. In a study conducted with 5000 samples and 1300 jobs, however, researchers found race still an important factor in the American labour market even when everything else is equal (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2002). On the whole, resumes of candidates with white-sounding names received 50% more callbacks than those of candidates with black-sounding names, an advantage that researches estimated to be worth eight years of additional experience. Having a resume of higher quality helps only candidates with white-sounding names, and the candidate’s residence in richer, more educated or whiter neighbourhoods is an advantage only when the candidate is white. Considering that these results did not vary significantly over job types, industries or employers, this is a bias entrenched in the employment scene, one that favours white employee candidates over blacks. Systematic discrimination of this kind is one of the reasons black unemployment is higher than white unemployment, a phenomenon that causes many other race-based disparities.
Certain companies hire mainly whites. Microsoft is an example, where in 2000, there were 20,000 white employees, and only 544 black employees, a ratio of forty to one. Definitely, not all companies engage in such employment practices but it is true that there has been and still is discrimination in areas of job employment.
On a side note, it is great to know that there have been such legal action taken against companies who do so. In September 2013, the Bank of America was made to pay $2.2 million to 1000 black workers it had discriminated against.The bank had adopted “unfair and inconsistent selection criteria” when it routinely chose white applicants over black job-seekers in 1993 and between 2002 and 2005.
Asian-American long-term unemployment rates are the highest at 50.1% in 2011 and blacks come in second at 49.9%. Whites have a lower percentage of 42.4% and Hispanics' long-term unemployment rates are the lowest at 39.8%.
How do we know that this disparity is due to discrimination? After all, there are a list of factors that employers take into account when making hiring decisions, such as qualification, education level and work requirements. In a study conducted with 5000 samples and 1300 jobs, however, researchers found race still an important factor in the American labour market even when everything else is equal (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2002). On the whole, resumes of candidates with white-sounding names received 50% more callbacks than those of candidates with black-sounding names, an advantage that researches estimated to be worth eight years of additional experience. Having a resume of higher quality helps only candidates with white-sounding names, and the candidate’s residence in richer, more educated or whiter neighbourhoods is an advantage only when the candidate is white. Considering that these results did not vary significantly over job types, industries or employers, this is a bias entrenched in the employment scene, one that favours white employee candidates over blacks. Systematic discrimination of this kind is one of the reasons black unemployment is higher than white unemployment, a phenomenon that causes many other race-based disparities.
Certain companies hire mainly whites. Microsoft is an example, where in 2000, there were 20,000 white employees, and only 544 black employees, a ratio of forty to one. Definitely, not all companies engage in such employment practices but it is true that there has been and still is discrimination in areas of job employment.
On a side note, it is great to know that there have been such legal action taken against companies who do so. In September 2013, the Bank of America was made to pay $2.2 million to 1000 black workers it had discriminated against.The bank had adopted “unfair and inconsistent selection criteria” when it routinely chose white applicants over black job-seekers in 1993 and between 2002 and 2005.
Asian-American long-term unemployment rates are the highest at 50.1% in 2011 and blacks come in second at 49.9%. Whites have a lower percentage of 42.4% and Hispanics' long-term unemployment rates are the lowest at 39.8%.
However, Asian-American unemployment rates are usually lower than white American rates. Highly educated Asian-Americans also have higher unemployment rates than similarly-educated whites, especially significant since the majority of the Asian-American labour force has at least a college degree as compared to 38.6% of the white labour force.
Education
—its part in determining job opportunities and socioeconomic mobility
Present situation:
Education gaps
The overall percentage graduation of high school students within four years stands at 74.7%. This percentage differs significantly for the different races in America; 81% for Asians; 80% for whites; 68% for Latinos; 62% for blacks; 51% for Native Americans. Presently, asians and whites remain as the highest performing group.
Educational funding
Due to education being funded primarily through local and state revenue, the quality of education varies greatly depending on the geographical location of the school. In some areas, education is primarily funded through revenue from property taxes.
There is a direct correlation in some areas between the cost of homes and the amount of money allocated to educating the area’s youth.
A 2010 US Census showed that 27.4% of all African-Americans lived under the poverty line, the highest percentage of any other ethnic minority in the United States. As African-American are usually poorer, in predominantly African-American areas, otherwise known as ‘ghettos’, the amount of money available for education is extremely low. Whereas predominantly Caucasian areas have more money channelled into primary and secondary educational institutions, thus allowing their students to succeed academically and obtain post-secondary degrees. This is commonly known as 'funding segregation'.
Allocation of resources
Alternative certificate programs were introduced in the 1980s throughout most states to respond to the decrease in the number of people seeking to attain a secondary degree in education. These programs award someone a teaching license even when he or she has not completed a traditional teaching degree. These people often end up as teachers to students in poor districts and they tend to teach African-Americans and other ethnic minorities in inner-city schools and schools in the poor rural towns. Therefore, not only do the impoverished minorities receive the least amount of resources for education, they have to cope with having the least trained teachers in the nation.
Ethnic minorities thus do not receive good education in comparison and this has resulted, and still results, in many negative repercussions.
—its part in determining job opportunities and socioeconomic mobility
Present situation:
Education gaps
The overall percentage graduation of high school students within four years stands at 74.7%. This percentage differs significantly for the different races in America; 81% for Asians; 80% for whites; 68% for Latinos; 62% for blacks; 51% for Native Americans. Presently, asians and whites remain as the highest performing group.
Educational funding
Due to education being funded primarily through local and state revenue, the quality of education varies greatly depending on the geographical location of the school. In some areas, education is primarily funded through revenue from property taxes.
There is a direct correlation in some areas between the cost of homes and the amount of money allocated to educating the area’s youth.
A 2010 US Census showed that 27.4% of all African-Americans lived under the poverty line, the highest percentage of any other ethnic minority in the United States. As African-American are usually poorer, in predominantly African-American areas, otherwise known as ‘ghettos’, the amount of money available for education is extremely low. Whereas predominantly Caucasian areas have more money channelled into primary and secondary educational institutions, thus allowing their students to succeed academically and obtain post-secondary degrees. This is commonly known as 'funding segregation'.
Allocation of resources
Alternative certificate programs were introduced in the 1980s throughout most states to respond to the decrease in the number of people seeking to attain a secondary degree in education. These programs award someone a teaching license even when he or she has not completed a traditional teaching degree. These people often end up as teachers to students in poor districts and they tend to teach African-Americans and other ethnic minorities in inner-city schools and schools in the poor rural towns. Therefore, not only do the impoverished minorities receive the least amount of resources for education, they have to cope with having the least trained teachers in the nation.
Ethnic minorities thus do not receive good education in comparison and this has resulted, and still results, in many negative repercussions.