c ett
orce?
abo
e ates:
•
o
a
Washington ( A) - By
the year 2000, more than 80
percent of the new additions
to the nation's wor force will
b women, minority group
members and immigrants --­
groups that have traditionally
f ced barriers to employment
and advancem nt in the p t,
Secretary of Labor Bill Broc
d elared in his annual Labor
D ymessage.
Job will be pi ntiful as our
economiy continues to beome
more service oriented nd
or en m y have to upd te
their slcills and change job fre­
quently technological dvan­
and economic hifts force
industries to djust, Broc
said.
"Right now, more than 23
million American adults are il­
literate. Our high school
dropout rate approaches 50
percent in some areas . .
any students who do
gr duate from high school
lac adequate r ding. writing
and computational skills to
qualify for jo the ecretarj
said
"For the first time inour his­
tory, our nation by the year
2000 will be able to promise
job -- not just anyjobs, but
good jobs --- to all citizens
who are willing and able to
work," he continued. But the
jobs will require more skills,
more education, more training
opportunities than many
Americans are getting today,
he added.
Despite the increasing num­
ber of strikes developing at
this late stage of 1987, Brock
. d "we are reminded, too,
that orkers and their unions
have often been the
forefront of great change and
progress in this country."
William J. Harris, director
of the Labor Department's Of­
fice of civil Rights, urged
federal employees who work
in the field of equal employ­
ment opportunity to "maintain
De roit de .eloper oves a
with Afj • can theme par
ead
P 9 3
Seving the S,,*'s AfriCIIII Americlln Community
ec, war
s
o e
o
e s
our commitment and per­
everance" as the nationmoves
toward the year 2000.
Harris emphasized his of­
fice must help make the chan­
ges in the wor force to in­
clude more women, minorities
and immigrants.
orman Hill, pre . dent of
the A. Philip Randolph In­
stitute, told the Monthly
Labor Review that the early
Continu d on Page 16
POSTER CHILD - Erica
Leta Hughey, a -)UI"­
old fro FayettevlDe,
North Carol, been
ected. the 1987-88
do Poster Cblld for
th adonal As odado
for Slclde Cell
Erica is
you
mbe ofB
.offlci a s con
WASH GTO D.C. - The
number of Bl ck elected officials
in the United States increased
by 4 percent last year, according
to th 16th edition of B c
Elected Official : tional
Ro er, published by the Joint
Center for Political Studies.
The total number of Black
elected officials ro from 6 424
to 6 681 between January 1986
and January 1987. The pre­
vious ye r's increa was 6.1
percent.
The 10 st tes with the
large t numbers of Black elected
official are Mississipp· (548,
Louisian (505), Alabama 448 ,
Georgia (445), illinois (434)
orth Carolina (353, South
Carolina (340), Ar ansas (319
ichigan (316), and California
(293 .
A total of 71 Bl k elected
official were elected in juris­
dictions where no BI ck Ameri­
can h d ever before held
elect" e office.
z
ac e ecte
es to rise
Addit ionally the number of
Black women elected officials
has almost tripled since 1975
when the Center first began
compiling data in this category.
In 1975, the total number of
Blac omen elected official
was 530· a of January 19 7
the total was 1 564.
The total number of Blacks
in the U.S. Hou of Repre-
ntative has also incre sed.
In 19 6, 21 members of
the Hou of Repre ntative
were Blae. In 1987 the
figure ro to 23 ith the
elections of e E py (D- S
and John Lewis (D-CA .
oreover, two Blacks were
elected to fill ats previously
held by Blac s: eisi fume
D- D cceeded Parren it-
cell ho decided not to e
reel cti on and Floyd FI e
D- defeated Alton alton
who in 19 h d become the
first Blac to repre nt the
6th ional Dl trict of
e Yor.
There are 7 Bla s ho h ld
state ide office nd 410 h
rve in legisl ture . t the
municipal level ther
Bla elected fflcial in luding
2 4 5 councilm mbers and 03
mayors. The number f BI
mayor in itie ith popula­
tions over 30 000 in rea d
from 2 to 34.
The geographi di tributi n
of Bl ele ted offi ials lear­
ly parallels the distribution f
the total Black populati n in the
United States.
The uth has 53 per ent
of the country' Blac p pula­
tion and 62 per ent of all Blac
elected officeholders.
The cond large t oncen-
tration of Blac elected
officials 19.2 p rcent i [i und
in the orth entral nited
tate here 19. p rent f
the Black p pulati nil ted.
16