The Charlotte Post - March 6, 2015, by Herbert White - America’s economy may be in recovery, but Simone McCray can’t see it.

McCray works at a Charlotte warehouse where she earns $8.10 an hour and lives with family to stretch her budget. A 2010 UNC Charlotte graduate with a degree in psychology, she has yet to land a job in that field.

“You don’t think you’re going to make $8.10 when you go to college,” she said. “That is not what they tell you.”

More Americans are working than before the Great Recession of 2008, but African Americans are lagging. Figures released by the U.S. Department of Labor Friday showed the national unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent in February, an improvement over the previous month.

“With another strong employment report, we have now seen 12 straight months of private-sector job gains above 200,000 -- the first time that has happened since 1977,” said Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. “Moreover, 2014 was the best year for job growth since the late 1990s and 2015 has continued at this pace. But additional steps are needed to continue strengthening wages for the middle class.”

But for African Americans, the jobless rate is double that of whites and the wage gap between the ethnic groups is getting wider.

The Federal Reserve, which sets national policy on interest rates, is debating whether to boost the rate as a hedge against inflation. Progressive activists, however, are pushing the Fed to hold the line, arguing low rates will spur a jobs rebound, especially for low-income Americans.

“Don’t put any brakes on the economic recovery,” said Pat McCoy, director of Action NC, which held a press conference Thursday to press the Fed. “Not only has it not yet been a full recovery, but in community of color, particularly in the African American community, unemployment rates, underemployment rates remain extremely high.”

A study authored by the Center For Popular Democracy found that women and people of color are more likely to struggle to find work that pays a living wage. African Americans are especially hard hit with unemployment rates double the nation as a whole and plummeting wages.

“Creating a strong American economy must include prioritizing a genuine recovery for the African American community,” the report summarizes.

McCray wants to get in on the recovery. Saddled with debt from student loans, she’s looking for work that will allow her to meet financial obligations. Until then, she’s struggling to make ends meet.

“My student loans are going to start going back into repayment and you have to have a way to repay them,” she said. “With jobs that are just above minimum wage, it’s kind of hard to stay afloat and pay your student loans, so you have to stay with family longer and not be out on your own and be independent sooner.”

The Fed can help, activists insist, by resisting calls to raise interest rates. Corporate America and conservatives are pushing for an increase to prevent inflation, which is the simultaneous increase in consumer prices and devaluation of currency.

“We need to continue to stimulate the economy through low-interest rates in order to serve these communities that need recovery,” McCoy said.

As the Fed wrestle with the pros and cons of raising rates, Americans struggling to find work with a living wage are yet to be part of the nation’s limited recovery. Without a robust economic program, millions will be left out.

“Only by pursuing genuine full employment will the Fed ensure that the recovery reaches Main Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard – and communities of working people throughout the country,” the CPD report’s authors wrote. “As the Fed makes crucial monetary policy decisions in the months and years to come, it must ensure that all communities can share in the prosperity of a functional economy.”

Source