(ThyBlackMan.com) Is this recovery failing, is the question many knowledgeable people are asking? However, one month does not make a trend. No doubt, the upcoming April’s job report will be the most anticipated since these numbers have been published! If there is any hint that this recovery is failing, this is bad news not only for the larger economy but for African Americans in particular. The African American community unlike other communities has not experienced any respite from draconian double digit unemployment rates spawned by the 2008 Great Recession. African Americans are now in their seventh year with their unemployment rate in double digits.
This has created distortions in the black community, and the increase in black on black crime has become a recognizable result. As unemployment rates receded for every other worker group into single digits from their highs of the Great Recession, the African American rate of unemployment officially dropped to 10.1 percent. This new low, as reported in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) March jobs report, for the African American population is just a smidgen away from falling into single digits. It is ironic that this achievement comes as the national economy reported the worst job creation number, 126,000, since December of 2013, when the economy created just 74,000 jobs. Is this recovery cresting just as the black community is beginning to see some relief? What a cruel set of circumstances if this is the case.
Additionally, the national unemployment rate for March was unchanged at 5.5 percent and the unemployment rate for whites was 4.7 percent. Black men whose unemployment rate trended downward since November, 2014 when it was at 11.2 percent had an unemployment rate of 10.0 percent for March. Black women did not fare as well; their rate increased from 8.9 percent in February to 9.2 percent. Even black teenagers, ages 16 to 19 years, saw a reprieve in the BLS report for March. Their rate of unemployment decreased from 30.0 percent in February to 25.0 percent. White teenagers however, are doing a heck of a lot better. Their unemployment rate was 15.7 percent. Nonetheless, those of us who closely monitor these numbers agree that the true unemployment rate for all working groups is higher than the official rates of the BLS by as much as two to five percent or more.
The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) or rather the Federal Open Market Committee had apparently anticipated the fall off in job creation as it moved its highly anticipated interest rate increase further out toward the end of the year. High job creation numbers are obviously important to the Fed because people who do not have jobs do not buy things, which means people who make and do things (services) have no work to do. And if people who make and do things do not have work to do, they become unemployed and part of the problem. Of course an upward increase in interest rates could have had a negative impact on job creation; as the cost of money increases, there is a good possibility hiring would have slowed or even stopped, as higher interest rates cut into the profits of businesses. 
Yet, there is a silver lining in this March report. If the next job creation number in April is bad, it will force reasonable and knowledgeable people to discuss the question of what role the federal government should play going forward in addressing the issue of unemployment and job creation. The reason for saying this is; the ills of our economy have been left to the Fed to resolve using monetary policy. Monetary policy encompasses among other things, increasing and lowering interest rates, flooding the banking system with cash by buying government bonds as the Fed did with its quantitative easing (QE) program, advising central banks in other countries to adopt QE as a means to stimulate their economies, and influencing investment markets through making timely comments about its position on interest rates.
We are where we are because of monetary policy; 126,000 jobs created in March, when our economy requires at minimum 250,000 to 300,000 new jobs monthly just to keep up with the influx of new job seekers into the job market. If this is the best that monetary policy can accomplish after seven years of attacking the problems of unemployment and job creation, it is incumbent upon the Obama administration and federal policymakers to come up with a fiscal solution. Fiscal solutions involve the use of government revenue. Republicans for example have over the years advocated tax cuts for the very wealthy and businesses as solutions to job creation. Democrats on other hand are advocates of infrastructure spending, tax cuts to the middle class and direct and indirect spending on various programs that help lift citizens out of poverty.
When you look at the job creation crisis the United States finds itself in today, fiscal solutions offered by the mainstream parties just don’t “cut the mustard.” Their solutions do not address the consumer which is the answer to this dilemma of consistent job creation. Our downturn is primarily due to the lack of consumer demand! Consumers represent 70 percent of the economic activity of this economy. Thus, any recovery plan which will genuinely impact unemployment has to involve the consumer! Think of it this way, the fuel used in your car is gasoline and ethanol. The gas comprises about 90 percent of the mixture, just as the consumer is 70 percent of our GDP ( gross domestic product). Exports and government spending comprise the other 30 percent. Take away the gasoline and the car does not move. Your car is not designed to just run on ethanol. That is the way the American economy functions, also. If you reduce the amount of money the consumer spends in this economy, the economic engine of this economy stalls and sputters. This is why our economy is sputtering, due to the reduced purchasing activity of the consumer. Wall Street is doing great, due primarily to the Fed keeping interest rates near 0 percent.
Most American corporations are in great shape financially with solid balance sheets and products ready to sell. THEY JUST DON’T HAVE CUSTOMERS! Product availability as we can readily see does not create demand, which leads to job creation. Let me say that again, product availability does not create demand! Demand is created by the consumer! Emphasis should be placed on the consumer and finding a way to place capital in the consumer’s hands in large enough amounts over a long period of time ( http://www.thefixthistime.com ). Doing this will stimulate the economy and pull the United States out of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Staff Writer; James Davis
This talented brother is a graduate of Florida A. and M. University(FAMU), a former stockbroker, and a human rights activist who resides in Sanford, Florida. He was awarded the prestigious Governor Haydon Burns Scholarship to attend FAMU and while at FAMU was awarded the first Martin Luther King Scholarship. He is also author of three books, among them are “The Fix This Time,” Expanding Social Security Benefits to Create Jobs and Spur Demand( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MI3PD2M ) and “Hey…God’s Talking To You,” The Study Book ( http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GYI3VQW ).
He can be reached through his blog @, (http://www.thefixthistime.com).
