| By Dana Knight Skin color didn't cross Cortezah Galloway's mind when she started an aggressive job search at age 14. Two years and quite a few rejections later, she was jobless -- but still optimistic that being black had nothing to do with being unemployed. "Yes, I was out there looking hard for quite a while. But I eventually found one," said the Tech High School student, who, at age 16, landed a job at Chick-fil-A. Despite her upbeat attitude, the nation's black teens face a more grueling job scene than their white peers. And the challenge is even more acute in Indiana. The key questions are why and what can be done about it -- two issues being examined by Indiana Black Expo, state government and others. According to the most recent state-by-state comparison issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.6 percent of black teens in Indiana were unemployed in 2004, compared with 38.9 percent nationally. White teen unemployment in the state was at 18.3 percent, according to the study that gauged joblessness among teens 14 and older who were actively seeking work. Experts say the reasons for Indiana's high rate among black teens are complex and myriad: lagging high school graduation rates among blacks, a lack of preparation programs for job interviews, lingering discrimination and increased competition for entry-level positions from other minority teens and even the elderly. Black Expo, whose annual Summer Celebration hits full speed this week, is among the organizations trying to find a solution. It offers internships all year and specialized career training at its Youth Video Institute. Its programs focus particularly on helping teens learn how to present a positive image to employers. "This is a major issue black teens face, but when they leave here, they know how to dress appropriately for the type of interview and how to apply for a job," said Tanasha Anders, vice president of youth and family programs with Black Expo. "When they leave here, employers take a second look at them and they get hired." That type of preparation and polishing is key. Most studies show black teens who can't find jobs likely don't have the training it takes to interview and may have been raised in a poverty-level home where job-seeking skills weren't taught. "Quite honestly, some of the young (black) people who come up here looking for work, I wouldn't be interested in hiring because of their approach and appearance," said Neal Davis, who is black and owns the Chick-fil-A at Circle Centre mall in Downtown Indianapolis, where Galloway works. "They need polishing." Everett Scisney has it. The honor student, who graduated in May from Pike High School, has never had trouble landing a job. He's worked for Kroger as a bagger and for the past two years on the wait staff at Hoosier Village Retirement Center. "It's been pretty easy for me," said Scisney, who will attend Indiana University in the fall to major in vocal performance and business management. "I know a lot of my (black) friends are having trouble." Scisney doesn't like to think race is a factor but says he often is left wondering what else it could be. "It's just strange to me that the unemployment number would be so high for (black teens) unless there are some people who still discriminate," he said. Other types of disparities also exist, said Ron Stiver, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The black teen unemployment rate is likely tied to the academic achievement gap between blacks and whites, he said. Indiana's graduation rate for black teens is 48.5 percent, compared with 75.4 percent for white teens, according to national analysis by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center released last month. "In most cases, any employment gap is ultimately a reflection of an underlying educational or achievement gap," Stiver said. "In the case of too many Indiana black teenagers, they are not learning anything near what they need to become successful young adults in today's world of work." Education aside, black teens face tough competition, not only from peers, but also from retired workers seeking part-time work and any other entry-level job seeker. Labor experts say pending legislation that would increase the national minimum wage to $7.25 from $5.15 an hour would further dampen the market for black teens as jobs are cut and employers find it less feasible to pay a teen those higher wages. In fact, black young adults and high school dropouts suffer four times more employment loss from a minimum wage increase than everyone else, according to a report released by the Employment Policies Institute. "Nobody ever talks about these groups who are so affected by a change like this," said Michael Flynn, director of legislative affairs for the institute. He attributes the higher unemployment rate for black teens to a general contraction in the labor market with a move to trim entry-level positions. He also points to a skill gap between white teens and minority teens. The state is trying to address that problem before blacks enter their 20s and encounter high unemployment rates as adults. In May, the national jobless rate for black adults was 8.9 percent, more than twice the rate for whites. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development wants to pump up the number of young blacks in the skilled construction trades with a program called Major Opportunities, which will launch this fall. Gov. Mitch Daniels hopes the program will get more minorities on the road to work through pre-apprenticeship training, specifically for young adults, teens and high school dropouts. At the end, the program's goal is to have a job waiting for each participant. "This is the incentive," said Sen. Earline S. Rogers, D-Gary, who has been instrumental in creating Major Opportunities. Minorities historically have been underrepresented in the building trades field, she said, so black youths haven't thought to apply. "We hope they will see them on the site and it will give them incentive to apply for these jobs and see they can get them," she said. "And we intend to teach them all the life skills it takes to know how to get the jobs."
source: http://www.indystar.com
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