How Social Networks Drive Black Unemployment

How Social Networks Drive Black Unemployment
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 09: Job seekers wait in line at Kennedy-King College to attend a job fair hosted by the city of Chicago on November 9, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Thousands of people started to line up at 3AM for the job fair which did not begin until 9AM. When the doors opened the line was about a half-mile long. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - NOVEMBER 09: Job seekers wait in line at Kennedy-King College to attend a job fair hosted by the city of Chicago on November 9, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Thousands of people started to line up at 3AM for the job fair which did not begin until 9AM. When the doors opened the line was about a half-mile long. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

It’s easy to believe the worst is over in the economic downturn. But for African-Americans, the pain continues — over 13 percent of black workers are unemployed, nearly twice the national average. And that’s not a new development: regardless of the economy, job prospects for African-Americans have long been significantly worse than for the country as a whole.

The most obvious explanation for this entrenched disparity is racial discrimination. But in my research I have found a somewhat different culprit: favoritism. Getting an inside edge by using help from family and friends is a powerful, hidden force driving inequality in the United States.

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