This Issue Brief, one of a series on African American employment that the Joint Center will publish in the coming months, is also Part 1 of a larger Joint Center report entitled, “Building a Healthy Economy: Creating Employment Opportunity and Equity.” This brief examines and analyzes data from the 25 states with substantial African American populations. Subsequent briefs will focus on data from the 18 cities with African American mayors and African American populations over 100,000 and on industries and occupations with significant employment opportunities for African Americans. Additional elements of the report will include components on emerging health sector employment opportunities as a result of the Affordable Care Act, green jobs related to energy efficiency, and the Internet’s impact on job search.

For more detailed information on the 25 states included in this study, download the appendix.

This paper presents three case studies in the state of South Carolina, and the cities of Chicago, IL, and Los Angeles, CA, with in-depth analyses of wireline and wireless access in high minority, low-income communities. The findings of the study concluded that broadband service is becoming much more ubiquitous in high minority, low-income communities, yet levels of adoption still remain relatively low. The study also concluded that race is not a significant explanatory variable for disparate broadband deployment, and despite the availability of mobile broadband in low-income, high minority areas, wireless coverage is still inconsistent within regions.

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A supplemental appendix for this publication is also available here.

In his statement to commend the National Broadband Plan developed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), President Obama hoped that a broadband-driven Internet would provide opportunities for economic growth and job creation. While the potential for the Internet to affect employment is vast, this article focuses on one specific aspect — the role of the Internet in helping Americans, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, find and obtain jobs.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (FMWA), which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, January 10th and taken up by the U.S. Senate the week of January 22nd, will raise the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour by 2009. The minimum would be raised in three steps: to $5.85 within 60 days of becoming law, then to $6.55 a year after that, and finally to $7.25 the following year.

How many workers might the Act affect if it is passed this year and if the minimum is then raised to $7.25 by 2009? How might the effects differ by race and ethnicity?

These important questions have no simple answers. Informative estimates can nevertheless be produced through analysis of the hourly wages that workers reported in the most recent Annual Demographic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), which was conducted in March 2006. Workers who reported earnings between $5.15 (the current federal minimum wage) and $5.85 might be affected by the increase that the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 would implement within 60 days of its passage; those earning between $5.85 and $6.55, and between $6.55 and $7.25 might benefit from the second and third increases proposed in the Act. Workers who reported earnings greater than the proposed federal minimum wage of $7.25 by 2009 may also see their wages increase by that time, as some states implement planned increases in their minimum wages that exceed the federal minimum.

The upcoming decennial census will have an enormous impact on political representation and allocation of government funding.

Between December 2009 and January 2010, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies conducted a study of 2,741 respondents, oversampling African Americans and Hispanics, to understand national minority broadband adoption trends, and examine broadband adoption and use between and within minority groups. This report addresses the experiences of minority consumers of wireline and mobile broadband services and provides insights into some of the factors affecting the decisions of minorities who have adopted broadband.