National Urban League n Obama Administration Scorecard n www.nul.org3 SuccessesEconomic Growth SUPERIORIn eight years, America has gone from losing hundreds of thousands of jobs per month to an unprecedented 80+ consecutive months of job growth.During President Obama’s term, the private sector added 15 million new jobs, and the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act is widely credited with protecting the nation from a second Great Depression.The overall unemployment rate is below 5% for the first time in eight years.In January 2009, the Black unemployment rate was 12.7% versus a white unemployment rate of 7.1%. As of December 2016, the Black jobless rate stands at 7.8% versus a white jobless rate of 4.3%.Reductions in African American Poverty RateEXCELLENTThe poverty rate for African Americans fell faster in 2015 than in any year since 1999. While the poverty rate fell across all racial and ethnic groups this year, it fell 2.1 percentage points for African Americans, resulting in 700,000 fewer African Americans in poverty. African American children also made large gains in 2015, with the poverty rate falling 4.2 percentage points and 400,000 fewer children in poverty. In the first effort in 40 years to bring Labor Department regulations on overtime in line with inflation, President Obama doubled the salary level at which hourly workers must be paid extra for overtime pay, increasing it from $23,660 to $47,476.Support for Youth and Mature Workers SUPERIORSince 2011, President Obama’s administration has provided vital support to transform the National Urban League’s education and employment program for out-of-school youth, the Urban Youth Empowerment Program (UYEP), from a demonstration program begun under the previous administration, to a signature program for court-involved youth and young adults ages 14 to 24.Under the UYEP model, the National Urban League and its partnering affiliates serve about 2,000 youths living in high-poverty, high-crime urban areas across the nation, and have placed the vast majority of these youths into jobs that pay a living wage.The administration was also supportive of the National Urban League’s more than 30 years of expertise in serving the needs of unemployed older citizens through its support for our signature Urban Seniors Job Program (Mature Workers Program) that provides subsidized service-based training for low-income persons 55 years of age or older, who are unemployed and committed to finding employment opportunities.JOBS & THE ECONOMY
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