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Across the country unemployment is around 10 percent, but for communities of color that number goes up to 15.6%. For the Workers Independent News Karen Miller finds out how African Americans living in Washington DC are doing during this recession and if President Obama’s economic recovery package is providing relief.
39 year old, Washington DC electrician Robert Smith was recently unemployed for 7 months. He says he and his colleagues have never seen it worse.
[Smith]: “People who thought they would never be out of work are now out of work and they have been put in a position where they don’t know what to do.”
According to the Department of Labor, African American unemployment for men is 16.9%. President Obama’s economic stimulus package was supposed to help the DC area. But some like Smith are still waiting.
Karen: Have you notice any impact that that has actually had?
Smith: No. Not really. I don’t know any.
Washington DC was awarded 2.8 billion dollars in economic recovery funds but so far the city has only received 200 million. Larry Greenhill Sr. is Vice President of Local 26 IBEW. He says even with the stimulus money; in DC companies are still cutting back.
[Greenhill]: “For African Americans it plays out on the unemployed list by showing more.”
Many who have been tracking economic stimulus funds say there’s a reason the impact is not being felt on communities of color. Congressmen Elijah Cummings.

“The money has not been adequately targeted to the people who are disproportionately unemployed”)

Besides jobs, additional training tops the list at what it most needed for recovery money the next time around. Again Smith.

“I think you should have something else to fall back on like a plan B.”

Recently Congress passed an additional jobs bill to tackle unemployment. For Workers Independent News in Washington DC. I’m Karen Miller