Bleak Portraits

Two surveys of black privation

At first glance it certainly looked like a great year for American blacks. Staring out from newsstands for much of the year were three compelling examples of how far they had come in 1983: Vanessa Williams, the first black Miss America; Guion Bluford Jr., the first black American astronaut in space; and, of course, Presidential Candidate Jesse Jackson.

However, according to the National Urban League's annual survey, "The State of Black America," released last week, these were the exceptions in a year otherwise notable for its stunning lack of progress for most of the country's 28 million blacks. Declared Urban League President John E. Jacob: "Black America is in desperate straits."

The Urban League's statistical portrait was one of intractable joblessness and poverty, even in the face of a robust national recovery. In December, the national unemployment rate fell to 8.2%, the lowest in more than two years. But for blacks, whose jobless rate traditionally is roughly double that for whites, the unemployment rate was a dispiriting 17.8%.

Almost half of all black teen-agers who wanted to work were unable to find a job.

Moreover, the percentage of black families at or below the Government's official poverty line -- $9,862 for a family of four-was almost three times that of whites, the worst rate since 1967. Half of all black children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. Black America, Jacob said, remains "buried in a depression of crushing proportions."

Economic burdens were particularly heavy in the black households headed by women, 42% of the total.

More than half of these women lacked a high school diploma; three-fifths did not have jobs. The poverty rate for these female-headed black families: a worrisome 45%.

The Urban League's bleak findings were bolstered by another report released the same day that dealt with job discrimination. In a survey of major companies in the Boston area, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) found blacks severely underrepresented in key industries. Even though minorities are generally better educated in Boston than in most other areas of the U.S., they are disproportionately concentrated in lower-paying jobs. Not one of Boston's electric, gas and sanitary-service companies has minority sales employees.

Even custodian jobs in investment firms are, according to the EEOC, "totally segregated." Fumed Regional Director Thomas Saltonstall: "This isn't Baton Rouge in 1864. It is Boston in 1984. The situation is appalling."