The cost of male subemployment in the black community

Summary and Conclusions In 1969, the direct and indirect costs of the subemployment of black men exceeded total federal expenditures on manpower programs by almost $2 billion ($4.0 vs. $2.1 billion) and today, with the black unemployment rate approaching 13 percent, it is improbable that this difference has narrowed appreciably. Nor is there any evidence to indicate that the black male’s tie to the family unit has strengthened to any significant extent. There is no readily available panacea for eliminating these economic costs and the continued waste of human resources, but the World War II and Korean War experiences are indicators of how society can act to simultaneously attack the related problems of subemployment and family instability.