by MCJ Staff
First the good news. Milwaukee has moved from its position as hosting the highest Black unemployment rate in the country, to second worst, behind Pittsburgh. The Black male unemployment rate dropped from 46.5% to 43%.

According to a report released by UW-Milwaukee researcher Marc Levine, "The Crisis of Black Male Joblessness in Milwaukee: Trends, Explanations, and Policy Options, March 2007," nearly one third of the new employment opportunities came from public policy ventures like the Marquette Interchange and other projects that are mandated to provide a percentage of its workers from the local labor market.

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"A huge gap in male joblessness exists in all age categories in metro Milwaukee, from teenage workers to prime working age adults," the report concluded. "Black male joblessness not only exceeds the White rate by at least 20 percentage points in all age groupings, but the jobless rate among Black males also is significantly higher than for Hispanics males in metro Milwaukee, particularly among younger workers."

The report went on to reveal that there is "sharp regional/racial polarization of Milwaukee’s male labor market, with the largest gaps in jobless rates separating White suburbanites from Black residents of the central city."

The rise in joblessness among Black males during the past 35 "has been relentless," reaching a peak of 51% in 2003. In 1970, the Black jobless rate was 15.2%.

The report theorizes that the jobless rate has been influenced by the loss of manufacturing job, suburbanization of jobs and racial segregation. An abysmal educational system has also contributed greatly to the pool of eligible Black workers.

The latest decrease in joblessness can be directly attributable to public policy infrastructure opportunities, including the Marquette Interchange project.

"We need public investment to increase, stimulate the local economy, Levine said in an interview on radio station WMCS recently. "One way to do that is through public policy projects. In cities where the needle moved, employment and poverty, like Boston, had an incredible string of public policy investments; they hired a lot of people."

"We need a regional planning strategy; greater incentives for industry to move to the city, and growth management strategies."

Levine’s report was critical of a proposed plan from the mayor to take over workforce development operations currently administered by the Private Industry Council. The mayor’s focus is contrary to employment trends. Most of the new jobs, Levine said, over 90%, are in the suburbs and surrounding communities, not the city.

Levine said if all of the city’s available jobs were filled, "there would still be a shortage of 88,000. That figure increases to 100,000 if "you’re talking about family supporting jobs," he revealed.

"I’ve yet to see anything from the mayor, or from a report from Don Sykes that would lead me to think they will do anything different (than several other initiatives spearheaded by the MMAC and GMC). It’s back to the notion that job training is the solution to job creation.... if we create workers, jobs will come. I’m skeptical. That’s not the reality."

Contrarily, the PIC has focused its efforts on regionalization, and gearing training for public sector projects.

Levine’s report offers several policy options he believes will impact Black joblessness:

Public infrastructure investment, regional planning and cooperation, and improving the transportation system to provide Black unemployed with access to jobs.

A light rail system provides the greatest potential, he surmised. Milwaukee is one of a handful of major metropolitan areas that has not embraced light rail, a fact he attributed to partisan politics.

While the proposed commuter rail holds some promise in that regard, a city proposal to create an electric train that would essentially link the eastside with downtown would do nothing to impact on the Black unemployment rate.