With the goal of improving employment opportunities in Milwaukee County, the Department of Workforce Development has established a bipartisan task force on minority unemployment to develop strategies that reduce joblessness, especially among black males.
The initiative, part of Gov. Scott Walker’s Council on Workforce Investment, was announced today by DWD Secretary Reggie Newson.
The task force has been charged with devising a series of recommendations to reduce minority unemployment in metropolitan Milwaukee, particularly what the administration called the “unacceptably high unemployment rate” among black males. It will review all workforce training programs in the Milwaukee area, identify best practices, and recommend a skills pipeline to prepare and connect unemployed black males with employment opportunities.
“Governor Walker and his administration are committed to doing everything possible to promote economic growth in Milwaukee and connect unemployed residents, particularly black males, with job opportunities,” Newson said in a press release. “This task force will concentrate on strategies that will advance this commitment and help break the longstanding dilemma of black male unemployment facing metro Milwaukee.”
A recent study by Dr. Marc Levine of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee found that in 2010, only 44.7% of black males ages 16 to 64 in metro Milwaukee were employed.
The task force will be co-chaired by Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and State Representative Elizabeth Coggs. Other members of the task force will be announced in the near future, and a series of public meetings will begin later this spring.
