Skip Navigation

Mr. Chairman,

As I noted in earlier testimony before this task force, in spite of significant increases in overall employment levels and declines in the aggregate unemployment rate during the 1975-1978 economic recovery, unemployment rates remain high for some groups of workers, particularly nonwhite adults and both white and nonwhite younger workers. Nonwhite teenagers continued to have the highest unemployment rates of all major demographic groups.

The major reasons for these unemployment inequalities are a continuing general slack in the labor market (6.1 million workers were unemployed in February), structural factors such as inadequate levels of skill or educational attainment, and the unintended consequences of government policies that further diminish demand for already disadvantaged workers. If these inequalities are to be reduced in the future, both improved economic conditions and expanded use of targeted employment, training, and educational programs will be needed. These changes would probably increase both the number of workers employed and the number of individuals actively looking for work; therefore the improvements in employment conditions may be larger than the declines in unemployment.

This document is available in its entirety in PDF.