Twin cities has the largest black- white unemployment gap (Minneapolis: middle-class, fit in)

[daboywonder2002]

Twin Cities has far and away the largest black-white unemployment gap, says new study - Minneapolis News - The Blotter

[golfgal]

This has been discussed ad nausium on this board and the reality is that the Twin Cities Area (Minneapolis and St. Paul more specifically) lacks a substantial black middle class population. The numbers would hold the same if you looked at upper and middle class white employment rates compared to low income whites in the Twin Cities. Move along now.

[Toronto416]

I'd be interested in knowing the types of jobs, as well as the amount of post-graduate education needed for Minneapolis jobs. My experience has been that Minneapolis is home to Fortune 500 companies that tend to hire very highly educated, privileged, affluent non-black individuals. The job market in Minneapolis is definitely not what it is in, let's say, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, or older, industrial Great Lakes cities that have had their share of racial disparities, but may have a more diverse choice of jobs rather than virtually everything requiring a graduate degree. Minneapolis has a lot of innovative, new ideas, great things happening, but not a whole lot for those who seek other kinds of employment. To be fair, I do think the Twin Cities is trying to attract a variety of people who can work these other jobs traditionally found in 'rustbelt' cities; it won't be long until Buffalo, Pittsburg or even Minnesota's Iron Range sees the mass exodus of the jobless and become the new Detroits.

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by Toronto416

I'd be interested in knowing the types of jobs, as well as the amount of post-graduate education needed for Minneapolis jobs. My experience has been that Minneapolis is home to Fortune 500 companies that tend to hire very highly educated, privileged, affluent non-black individuals. The job market in Minneapolis is definitely not what it is in, let's say, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, or older, industrial Great Lakes cities that have had their share of racial disparities, but may have a more diverse choice of jobs rather than virtually everything requiring a graduate degree. Minneapolis has a lot of innovative, new ideas, great things happening, but not a whole lot for those who seek other kinds of employment. To be fair, I do think the Twin Cities is trying to attract a variety of people who can work these other jobs traditionally found in 'rustbelt' cities; it won't be long until Buffalo, Pittsburg or even Minnesota's Iron Range sees the mass exodus of the jobless and become the new Detroits.

Our big corporate operations do "hire very highly educated" people. It just so happens that not a large % of these people are "non black". We are a large % caucasian state. The big companies push and long for diversity, there just isn't a lot there. How many black MBAs graduate in MN each year?

The Iron range has been down and out for a long long time. It never was largely populated, so would be pretty tough to become a 'new detriot'.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by TimtheGuy

Our big corporate operations do "hire very highly educated" people. It just so happens that not a large % of these people are "non black". We are a large % caucasian state. The big companies push and long for diversity, there just isn't a lot there. How many black MBAs graduate in MN each year?

When I worked for Northwest Airlines, I think there was some sort of court decision ruling that the company was not hiring enough qualified minorities, so the company made it a priority to go out and find minority professional talent. Minority IT talent wasn't really that common in the Twin Cities, so our IT department was more or less forced to go outside of the state to places like Detroit and such to find enough people to fulfill the requirements. It was a little surreal.

When you're a local company and the required labor poor doesn't exist in your local area, what do you do? It's not like NWA was a bad place to work or had some sort of race-biased filter in place, but requirements like having a four-year degree and/or at least some programming experience aren't all that unreasonable. In places like Atlanta, such requirements don't mean as much. In the Twin Cities, they do.

[daboywonder2002]

one question i have is how many blacks from out of state come to minnesota for jobs. i dont think its many. if you look at most college graduates and i dont have the exact numbers. a lot of em are going to the dc/maryland area and some atlanta. if we really want to recruit minorities. how about going to some of the historically black colleges to recruit college graduates.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by daboywonder2002

one question i have is how many blacks from out of state come to minnesota for jobs. i dont think its many. if you look at most college graduates and i dont have the exact numbers. a lot of em are going to the dc/maryland area and some atlanta. if we really want to recruit minorities. how about going to some of the historically black colleges to recruit college graduates.

How far are you willing to move away from home after college for a job? It isn't as easy as just recruit on Black Colleges. Does someone that grew up in Mississippi, has all of their family there, really want to truck up to Minnesota for a job? Maybe but not most people. Same in reverse, would you want to move away from all of your family to take a job in Mississippi?

[Mason3000]

Originally Posted by daboywonder2002

one question i have is how many blacks from out of state come to minnesota for jobs. i dont think its many. if you look at most college graduates and i dont have the exact numbers. a lot of em are going to the dc/maryland area and some atlanta. if we really want to recruit minorities. how about going to some of the historically black colleges to recruit college graduates.

Why do we have to go to the South to recruit anyone? The job is here, take the people who apply & hire the most qualified. Dr Martin Luther King had a dream of a day when a man would be judged on the content of his character (or in this case qualifications), not the color of his skin.

[queenswake]

This sort of story irks me because I know many readers get all up in arms about how unfair it is, blah, blah, blah. But there are specific reasons why this is the case in the Twin Cities and they are reasons that are not going to be fixed in a year or two, if ever. As golfgal said, there is no middle class black population. The majority of African-Americans have no long-standing history in MN as in other states. Without that history, you don't have the black politicians at the local and state level, the strong church community, etc. You don't have the black business owners, managers, people in charge of hiring. I've mentioned this before in similar threads, but I live in DC and my experience here is completely different from what it was in MN. My peers (in a technical field), my bosses at all levels, are comprised of black people. I co-own a business with two black people. Would that ever happen in Minnesota? It's laughable to even consider the possibility. You are just not going to have this same kind of experience in a place that does not have the black history.

Now, the other problem is the nature of the job market in MN. Many of the jobs that don't require a college degree are happily taken up by the hard working immigrants that have flooded the state over the past 15-20 years. And the companies are happy to hire them. So what does that leave Minnesota blacks? The other problem it's no secret that many of the blacks in MN are there for the welfare and other benefits. Why else would they have come? So for those who do want to work, they are competing not only with the immigrants, but with plenty of caucasians without college degrees. Minnesota has always had a big chunk of hard-working whites who happily take the blue collar jobs. MN has a relatively cost-of-living and people or all backgrounds have eked out a pretty nice life working at all sorts of these jobs.

One of the big problems I see is that even for the blacks who do want to work and are hard workers, there just aren't enough of these unskilled jobs to go around. Hell, how many times have I walked into a fast food restaurant to see a white retiree working there! This is emblematic of just how much competition there is for these unskilled jobs. Here in DC, there are entire business sectors that are almost exclusively black or minority. Cable technician, delivery drivers, local truck drivers, etc that are almost entirely black. There are so many jobs that blacks aren't competing with whites for the same jobs. Huge swath of jobs completely open. And these jobs are likely to have black managers that make the hiring decisions. So it's how people can get a foot in the door and start working their way up the career chain. And because there are so many jobs here, there is a lot of mobility. You progress quickly in your career by switching jobs often. And even by staying put, as managers above you move up or on so you move up to supervisor roles fast. In MN, a black person is fortunate to get the one job and if they are lucky get a promotion in ten years. The other thing about being around a middle-class black population is that the lower-class is motivation. You see your friend moving up in his career, affording a nice cars. You aspire to be like that. You see the possibility and pay-off of hardwork and keeping clean. Can you really blame the black youth in MN for not giving a damn? Not only do you have parents that don't give a damn, where is the middle class to look up to and say, hey, if you do well, you can end up like me?

I really wish the black-white situation was different in MN. I wish there could be a middle-class black population so that the lower-class could be helped in getting out of poverty. And then hopefully some of the unspoken (and spoken) racism there could start to subside. But when all Minnesotans see from blacks is the lower-class population that is there now, I can't fully blame some of that racism. But the thing is, I don't really consider that racism. I consider it being annoyed at obnoxious people who are not contributing to society. That goes beyond color lines. There are plenty of people of all races who fit into that category. LOL. But Minnesota is admittedly pretty insular so many people's only exposure to blacks face-to-face is the existing population. So if that's all you know, I guess I can see where the racism comes from. Look at how scared people are to go downtown because of the blacks around Block E. So that's Minnesotans' entire image of blacks just from a few bad characters. It just saddens me because people miss out on getting to know and enjoy being around blacks. Here in DC, it's just no big deal. Everyone respects each other and we have a lot of fun.

[pete6032]

Originally Posted by queenswake

The other problem it's no secret that many of the blacks in MN are there for the welfare and other benefits.

Can you cite an unbiased source that says this is a real reason? Or are you just spouting hyperbole?