Stat of the [Mon]Day: Employment Discrimination

A study conducted by Princeton University Professors Bruce Western and Devah Pager found the following disparities in employment opportunity:

• "White males with criminal records were just as likely as blacks with no criminal history to find employment"
• "Having a criminal record reduced the number of positive responses from employers by 57% for black applicants but only by 35% for their white counterparts"

Here's some more info on the study:

As part of the study, which began in February 2004, 13 applicants went on nearly 3,500 job interviews with 1,470 private companies. All jobs were entry level.

The men were given the same qualifications and experience, while criminal history was randomly assigned.

You can read more about this study here.

News: NAACP Sues Mortgage Lenders, Alleging Racism

From CNN.com:

The NAACP filed lawsuits Friday against two of the nation's largest mortgage lenders -- HSBC and Wells Fargo -- alleging "systematic, institutionalized racism" in their subprime lending.

NAACP CEO Benjamin Jealous says, "We are not seeking damages; we just want them to fix the problem."

"We have targeted these banks because we have gone through what we can get our hands on, and it seems like there's a real problem here," NAACP CEO Benjamin Jealous told CNN.

Jealous said the group wants "transparency." "We want to see the books," he added. "We are not seeking damages; we just want them to fix the problem."

More:

Under subprime lending, people who don't qualify for lower interest rates can borrow money at higher rates. The NAACP argues that the companies gave subprime rates to African-Americans who qualified for better rates and gave better rates to white customers with similar credit histories.

The lawsuits note studies showing African-Americans have been disproportionately affected by subprime lending. But that's not solely because of intentional efforts to target African-Americans, according to the lawsuits.

"These statistical disparities are not mere happenstance, but instead result from the systematic and predatory targeting of African-Americans, as well as facially neutral lending policies and practices that have a disparate adverse impact on African-Americans," said the lawsuits, which were filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

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Ironic, considering some have tried to blame the financial crisis on African Americans.

News: Advertisement Industry Under Fire

From Target Market News:

The inability of the advertising industry to fill its desks, cubicles and offices with a diverse work force is coming under fire again, this time from a lawyer with a track record of extracting large settlements on behalf of employees of giant corporations like Coca-Cola, Morgan Stanley and Texaco who believed they had been the victims of racial discrimination.

Cyrus Mehri (above), a lawyer who has sued corporations over racial discrimination, said that "favoritism rules and merit is cast aside" in the advertising industry.

The lawyer, Cyrus Mehri, joined the N.A.A.C.P. at a news conference on Thursday in Midtown Manhattan to release a report on race and employment in advertising. The 100-page report, addressing subjects like hiring, compensation, assignments and promotions, is part of what the N.A.A.C.P. and Mr. Mehri, of the Washington law firm of Mehri & Skalet, are calling the Madison Avenue Project.

There's More:

Blacks remain underrepresented on Madison Avenue, according to the report, "Research Perspectives on Race and Employment in the Advertising Industry," which concluded that only 5.3 percent of managers and professionals at agencies in 2008 were black.

And those blacks who do manage to land jobs on Madison Avenue are significantly underpaid, the report said, earning 80 cents for each dollar earned by their white counterparts.The economy worsens the problem, Ms. Ciccolo said, because "many training, recruitment and antidiscrimination programs come to a complete halt" in hard times.
Read the full article
or Read more about the Madison Avenue Project

This is for all those that think that discrimination in the workplace is a thing of the past.

Report: Housing discrimination on LI 'routine practice'

Newsday.com Report:

In 2004, Kirk and Orlandina Carter, a young African-American couple soon to marry, started to look for a house to buy in a "good neighborhood."

"We probably had about three to five Realtors," said Orlandina Carter, 32. "They would always lead us to neighborhoods that were low-income, rundown."

A new study released today suggests the Carters' experiences were not unusual.

In "Racial Equity Report Card: Fair Housing on Long Island," the Syosset advocacy group Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate Racism criticizes real estate brokers and federal, state and local government agencies, which the group says do not act aggressively on discrimination complaints or enforce fair housing laws.

Read the entire article