Urban League Urges Policy to Increase Jobs

Crumbling inner cities and double-digit unemployment among blacks foreshadow social and economic problems for America into the 21st century despite recent progress, the National Urban League warned on Friday.

Hugh B. Price, president of the league, called for a national urban policy to increase employment among the poor.

“We believe the urban policy must have a laser-like focus on jobs for the inner-city poor,” Price said. “No fancy master plans, no complex urban policies with dozens of components. We need public policies which make work economically worthwhile.”

Price presented the civil rights group’s annual report, “The State of Black America,” featuring eight essays from researchers examining the health, economic well-being and social standing of black Americans.

In his introduction to the report, Price noted “the striking progress African Americans have made during the past three decades,” pointing to the growth of the black middle class and the increase in black public officials.

“Nonetheless, we have no intention of ignoring the problems that confront us, and America,” Price said.

“For these are problems which sap the nation’s strength and confidence. . . .”

Among the researchers’ findings:

* Unemployment in the inner city undermines the nation’s efforts to increase economic productivity.

* Both the hourly wage gap between whites and blacks and the gap between high- and low-income blacks are growing.

* Health problems among blacks are exacerbated by poverty, ineffective health care and discrimination.

Price also reiterated his call for a White House summit to discuss how to improve relations between minorities and police agencies to end abuses.

Faced with the challenges of the global economy, the United States must strive to include all its citizens in the work force, Price said.

“Will we learn to manage the most robustly multiethnic democracy and market economy that the world has known?” Price asked.