Majority of U.S. Workers Changing Jobs Are Seeing Real Wage Gains
Roughly one-in-five workers say they are very or somewhat likely to look for a new job in the next six months, but only about a third of these workers think it would be easy to find one BY RAKESH KOCHHAR, KIM PARKER AND RUTH IGIELNIK Amid reports of the Great Resignation, Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand the experiences of individual workers who switched employers in any given month from January 2019 to March 2022. Part of the study is based on the analysis of monthly Current Population Survey (CPS) data from January 2019 to March 2022. The CPS is the U.S. government’s official source for monthly estimates of unemployment. About three-quarters of the people interviewed in one month of the CPS are also interviewed in the next month, and about half of the people interviewed in one year are also interviewed in the same month the next year. The analysis exploits these features to study the monthly transitions of individual workers from, say, employment to unemployment, and to examine the changes in their earnings from one year to the next. Another part of the study is based on a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults conducted by Pew Research Center from June 27 to July 4, 2022, using the Center’s American Trends Panel. The survey encompassed 6,174 adults, including 3,784 employed adults. The COVID-19 outbreak affected data collection efforts by the U.S. government in its surveys, especially in 2020 and 2021, limiting in-person data collection and affecting the response rate. It is possible that some measures of economic outcomes and how they vary across demographic groups are affected by these changes in data collection. “Employer switchers” or “job switchers” are workers who were employed in two consecutive months but report having changed employers. The switch may have happened voluntarily or involuntarily. Some of these workers may have been unemployed for up to four weeks in the transition from one job to the next. “Unemployed” refers to workers who are currently without a job but are actively seeking work. “Not in labor force” refers to workers who are neither employed nor actively looking for work. This group includes those who are retired, as well as workers who intend to return to the labor force sometime in the future. White, Black and Asian adults include those who report being only one race and who are not Hispanic. Hispanics are of any race. Other racial and ethnic groups are included in all totals but are not shown separately. “High school graduate” refers to those who have a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as a General Education Development (GED) certificate, and those who had completed 12th grade, but their diploma status was unclear (those who had finished 12th grade but not received a diploma are excluded). “Some college” include workers with an associate degree and those who attended college but did not obtain a degree. “Real earnings” refers to earnings adjusted for inflation. The Great Resignation of 2021 has continued into 2022, with quit rates reaching levels last seen in the 1970s. Although not all workers who leave a job are working in another job the next month, the majority of those switching employers are seeing it pay off in higher earnings, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. government data. From April 2021 to March 2022, a period in which quit rates reached post-pandemic highs, the majority of workers switching jobs (60%) saw an increase in their real earnings over the same month the previous year. This happened despite a surge in the rate of inflation that has eroded real earnings for many others. Among workers who remained with the same employer, fewer than half (47%) experienced an increase in real earnings. Overall, 2.5% of workers – about 4 million – switched jobs on average each month from January to March 2022. This share translates into an annual turnover of 30% of workers – nearly 50 million – if it is assumed that no workers change jobs more than once a year. It is higher than in 2021, when 2.3% of workers switched employers each month, on average. About a third (34%) of workers who left a job from January to March 2022 – either voluntarily or involuntarily – were with a new employer the following month. When it comes to the earnings of job switchers, the share finding higher pay has increased since the year following the start of the pandemic. From April 2020 to March 2021, some 51% of job switchers saw an increase in real earnings over the same months the previous year. On the other hand, among workers who did not change employers, the share reporting an increase in real earnings decreased from 54% over the 2020-21 period to 47% over the 2021-22 period. Put another way, the median worker who changed employers saw real gains in earnings in both periods, while the median worker who stayed in place saw a loss during the April 2021 to March 2022 period.1 Perhaps not coincidentally, Americans cited low pay as one of the top reasons why they quit their job last year in a Pew Research Center survey conducted in February 2022. A new Pew Research Center survey finds that about one-in-five workers (22%) say they are very or somewhat likely to look for a new job in the next six months. And despite reports of widespread job openings, 37% of workers say they think finding a new job would be very or somewhat difficult. Workers who feel they have little or no job security in their current position are among the most likely to say they may look for new employment: 45% say this, compared with only 14% of those who say they have a great deal of security in their job. Similarly, those who describe their personal financial situation as only fair or poor are about twice as likely as those who say their finances are excellent or good to say they’d consider making a job change (29% vs. 15%). Among workers leaving a job between 2019 and the first quarter of 2022, the
Despite ‘skills-based’ hiring push, employers overlook nontraditional candidates
Recruiting tools and processes may fail to consider workers without a four-year degree, panelists said during a June 28 joint EEOC and OFCCP webinar. Ryan GoldenSenior Reporter Despite signs that employers are willing to prioritize skills over educational attainment when recruiting, candidates with nontraditional work backgrounds continue to be overlooked, according to panelists at a virtual event hosted Tuesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. A general trend over the past 20 years has seen businesses employ four-year degree requirements in their job descriptions, narrowing the field of potential candidates despite “hundreds of thousands of people” performing such jobs without a Bachelor’s degree, said Byron Auguste, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit Opportunity@Work. Auguste and other panelists spoke about the need for employers to engage job candidates who are skilled through alternative routes, or STARs. These candidates, Auguste said, often are hindered by their backgrounds in pursuing advancements or face other barriers in the recruitment process even as less qualified, traditional candidates are favored. “People with advanced degrees are given much deeper roles that they may not be a fit for,” Auguste said. “This is a big problem for STARs, but it’s a bigger problem for [businesses] and employers.” A complete rebuild Resetting degree requirements for job posts is a strategy that predates the pandemic. A 2022 report by the Burning Glass Institute found that some 46% of middle-skill occupations and 31% of high-skill occupations saw degree requirements reset between 2017 and 2019. More recently, Maryland’s state government dropped four-year degree requirements for thousands of roles, and the push to hire for skills over degrees even received a shoutout at the 2022 State of the Union address. But employers seeking to expand opportunities to STARs may need to consider making more fundamental changes to the way they hire. That could mean a full reset of all positions, from top to bottom. That is the approach taken by one healthcare industry employer that partnered with OneTen, an executive coalition that focuses on closing opportunity gaps for Black talent in the U.S. Panelist Maurice Jones, OneTen’s CEO, said the employer initially sought to fill only a segment of roles, but after a period of just a few months, the company rebuilt all of its positions using what Jones called a “skills-first perspective.” In all, the company redesigned nearly 3,000 jobs. “That is what we’re looking for,” Jones said, noting the role that a central vision from leadership played in the effort. “It took the senior C-suite folks, hiring managers and people managers to say, ‘You know what? We should have been doing this years ago.’” Organizations already may have internal STARs who could benefit from clearer paths to advancement, Auguste said. Some barriers may be ingrained into pay structures and other facets of HR aside from the initial sourcing stage. For example, Auguste noted he has seen cases in which an employment contract states that an employer will pay less for someone who does not hold a college degree. “Companies are putting in a lot of barriers that they don’t need at all,” he said, adding that employers may want to create and expand internship and apprenticeship models for STARs. Screening and sourcingEmployers can broaden their reach in new ways thanks to the increased adoption of flexible work. Jones gave the example of a company based in the western U.S. that sought to open more opportunities for Black talent. Seeing a lack of such talent locally, the company decided to transition more of its jobs to remote status, allowing it to recruit nationwide, he said. For other organizations, the problem is not so much the availability of talent, but how that talent is screened. “You can’t see what you’re missing,” Auguste said. “Once you remove those barriers, now you can start to see.” Human recruiters may insert their biases into the process by defaulting to candidates with traditional credentials like a four-year degree. Even firms that have decided to eliminate four-year degree requirements can still fall into the trap of prioritizing candidates with those degrees, Jones said, citing another example of an employer OneTen worked with. “That was because of a bias, a mindset,” Jones said. “A four-year degree was the gold standard of telling them that this person can learn. It was a real, flawed mindset with respect to that particular credential.” But most companies don’t have a plan for exclusion, Auguste said. They may use hiring technology platforms that screen out non-traditional candidates by default. Such hurdles may require employers to check with their providers or otherwise perform additional analysis of screened candidates on the back end, said Emily Dickens, chief of staff, head of government affairs and corporate secretary for the Society for Human Resource Management. On the candidate side, Auguste said underrepresented groups of candidates “are more likely to read your job descriptions and say, ‘I don’t have that,’” which, he noted, is another reason why employers should “take the job description aspect of this seriously.” HR also may need to address hesitancy on the part of organizations to hire STARs. “If someone comes with 12 different reasons [not to hire STARs], there’s frankly something wrong,” Auguste said. As employers welcome more non-traditional candidates into their workforces and set them up to succeed, that risk aversion decreases over time, he added; “the successes pile up.” ‘These are all the things businesses say they need’ The pandemic has seen a number of employees making career changes from front-line roles in sectors such as the care economy and call centers to those in information technology, cybersecurity and other high-demand areas, Auguste said. That movement, he noted, is a testament to the resiliency and curiosity of these workers. “When you look at what essential workers have done in the pandemic … believe your eyes,” Auguste said. “That’s skills. That’s resourcefulness. These are all the things that businesses say they need.” However, panelists emphasized the need for alignment between HR executives, people managers and the C-suite. “It has to come from the
Diverse Audiences Driving OTT Usage & Viewing
By George Winslow Accounting for over 40% of homes consuming OTT content on CTVs, “diverse audiences represent a huge force and key driver of overall streaming growth,” Comscore said NEW YORK—New research from Comscore is highlighting a long-overlooked trend, namely the important role that diverse audiences from the African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American communities are playing in driving rapid growth in streaming and OTT video consumption. New Comscore data shows that those diverse audiences accounted for 41% of the U.S. homes viewing OTT content on connected TV devices, making them “a huge force and key driver of overall streaming growth,” the report concludes. The researchers also stressed that “diverse segment’s adoption of streaming content is outpacing the average, especially among African-American, Hispanic, and American Indians.” The data is particularly notable given the long-standing difficulties many members of those communities have in getting access to high-speed broadband and other digital services. Comscore used data from March 2019 to March 2022 to analyze the impact of diverse audiences on OTT viewing. During this time period, African American OTT households increased 35%, Hispanic OTT homes increased 41%, Asian OTT homes increased 69%, and American Indian OTT homes increased 66%. Diverse audiences also increased their share of WiFi homes watching OTT from 24.7 million homes (39% of all OTT homes) in 2019 to 34.6 million (41% of all OTT homes in the U.S.) in March of 2022. When it comes to OTT hours watched per household, African Americans saw a 66% increase between March 2019 and March 2022, and American Indians increased their OTT viewing by 88% during this time period, a much faster growth than the 34% increase in OTT viewing for the whole of the U.S. In March 2022, African Americans watched 163 hours of OTT content versus 122 hours for the nation as a whole, while Hispanic households viewed 133 hours. In terms of streaming services African-American households are using 6.3 streaming services—more than the national average of 5.4 services—and Hispanic households are using slightly above average at 5.6 services. Asian households under indexed the national average, however, with 4.9 services.
SHOUTOUT LA – Meet Andre Ezeugwu | CEO | Media Director
By: SHOUTOUT LA We had the good fortune of connecting with Andre Ezeugwu and we’ve shared our conversation below. Hi Andre, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?When I think back to the inception of Ifodige Productions, n/k/a Ifodige Media, I had a favorite quote by Beverly Sills, “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” Beverly Sills was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s, and I made her quote our company motto. I made it our company motto because, at that time, it became apparent that there wasn’t going to be a clear path to success for our company, and every bit of progress we made would be because we worked overtime to achieve that goal. Whenever we tried to take a “shortcut,” it blew up in our face, and we learned to trust the process of slow and steady growth. It permits space for effective leadership, experience, and wisdom to manifest and has allowed us the freedom to create an evolving entertainment marketing company from scratch over 12 years ago and still going strong! What should our readers know about your business?Ifodige Media, LLC. is a full-service Black advertising agency committed to providing our clients with inclusive marketing strategies to achieve their brand advancement and customer development goals. Utilizing various media platforms such as radio, out-of-home (billboards), event sponsorships, and social media advertising, we identify the correct messaging to connect your business with a diverse consumer base, and it’s what we do best. I am most proud of the media outlet network that we’ve been able to develop, which provides our clients with the best outlets to reach any audience with any advertising budget. Getting to where we are today has been a moving target with its ups and downs and requires a consistent commitment to customer development and providing results for our clients. Achieving success in development and retention is our proven formula for growth and where we spend our time and company resources is essential to the financial success of Ifodige Media, LLC. Who else deserves some credit and recognition?I want to shout out two managers I had during my tenure at Beasley Media Group. Matt Smith of Philadelphia, PA and Ken Denton of Tampa, FL. These sales managers provided me with the space and the safety net I needed to learn and understand my strengths and weaknesses in a very cutthroat radio sales industry. They were terrific managers. Anybody working under them would agree that they have mastered the delicate balance required to be an effective leader and closer, leading by example every day. Matt and Ken helped shape my overall understanding of what it took to develop a successful advertising agency. To this day, I consider them my mentors in client development and comprehensive management. Website: ifodige.com Instagram: @ifodige / @dreeze_inc Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreezeugwu/ Twitter: @ifodige / @dreeze_inc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ifodige
Corporate ads said Black Lives Matter. But the industry creating them is nearly all white.
The stunning lack of diversity in the advertising industry goes back decades and those in power have done little to change it. It’s time for action. By Christopher Boulton, associate professor of communication, University of Tampa Advertising’s unique ability to persuade by creating the appearance of change through rhetoric, symbols and events has helped corporations and existing power structures conceal and protect white gains and Black losses behind the scenes for generations. So as Black Lives Matter gained mainstream acceptance in June 2020, brands eager to stay on trend turned to ad agencies to help them join the movement through woke messaging. And though we’d seen similar efforts backfire before — Pepsi’s infamous protest ad with Kendall Jenner in the midst of protests against police shootings in 2017 come to mind — long-standing public pressure campaigns to end commercial monuments to white supremacy (ranging from corporate mascots of happy Black servitude to racist NFL trademarks) were, in fact, finally successful this time. While these hard-won victories are worth savoring, they are still largely symbolic because it’s hard to ascribe them to any true change of attitude; the people spoke, but it was really that money talked. So, when Proctor & Gamble tells its consumers that “Now is the time to be Anti-Racist,” one has to wonder whether the companies and the agencies that produced the ad got the memo, too. Because, when it comes to feigning change while continuing to marginalize Black lives and maintain white power, advertising has a long record as a repeat offender. And nothing demonstrates that more clearly than the ongoing, striking lack of diversity in the advertising industry itself. In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveyed advertising and promotion managers in the United States, and found that less than one percent (0.7 percent) were Black — a stark contrast to the 13.4 percent of the U.S. population that is Black. Perhaps more troubling, the number had actually gotten worse: In 2010, the percentage was 0.8 percent. To find out why, I conducted field work through internship programs at three major New York City advertising agencies. I found three related problems that likely contribute to the problematic, and ongoing, lack of Black advertising managers. First, white nepotism runs rampant: At the agencies I studied, all 24 of the interns referred to as “must-hires” (which means interns with family connections) were white. In most cases, must-hires are a well-kept but open secret at an organization; their connections are subject to an implicit don’t ask, don’t tell policy. (Except, this time, I did ask and my anonymous sources told.) And since they are white, their race conceals them like a cloaking device — they aren’t subject to questions about whether they got their jobs due to “affirmative action” policies even though “must hire” policies are exactly that. Second, the qualifications for entry-level positions in advertising can be loose and subjective; it comes down to whether a candidate feels like a “culture fit” rather than objective skills or experiences. As one human resources manager told me, the interview process for such positions feels more like rushing for a fraternity or sorority than interviewing for a firmly conceived job. As a result, “colorblind” whites can’t (or choose not to) see that they are consistently hiring people that look like or come from the same backgrounds, because those are the people with whom they feel the most comfortable. Third, advertising employees often refer their friends for open positions, which may save the agency the expense of a headhunter and provide the added bonus of a familiar officemate, but also makes for a racially homogenous workplace. Sociologists have long documented how the powerful and well-connected use this kind of opportunity hoarding as a means to conserve power within familial (and thus racial) lines. All of which puts Black applicants in a tough spot. While Latinos and Asians are also underrepresented in advertising, Blacks stand out in an agency setting — as one of the interns in my study put it — like “freckles.” This presents serious obstacles to mentoring and makes Black employees particularly vulnerable to white backlash. For instance, over half of the white “must-hires” in my study opposed affirmative action, even though they got their own spots through just such a program; these white hires nevertheless complained that Black interns got in “only because” of their race. (Meanwhile, though a smattering of diversity initiatives offered competitive scholarships for minority interns, the must-hires in my study still outnumbered them by a ratio of more than 2 to 1.) My research only begins to scratch the surface of a deeply entrenched problem — but don’t take my word for it. Watch Travis Wood’s short SXSW film “Affurmative Action,” which mocks how creative companies’ “Meet the Team” pages often feature plenty of dogs … but no Black people. Or read this open letter from 600 & Rising, a coalition of 600+ Black advertising professionals calling for urgent action from agency leadership — the most important of which being “transparency on diversity data.” In order to dismantle white supremacy inside advertising, more data is needed to hold ad agencies accountable and yet, despite decades of problems and numerous requests, as of last year neither major industry group — not the 4A’s nor the American Advertising Federation — even bothered to track diversity statistics in their industry. The Pledge for 13 has, in fact, offered to establish a “a hub that tracks the performance and progress of agencies throughout the industry” on diversity goals and instructing participating agencies to commit to achieving 13 percent African American leadership by 2023. The pressure seems to be working: On the eve of Juneteenth, June 19, 600 & Rising announced that 30 agencies agreed to publicly share their internal diversity data on an annual basis, broken down by gender identity, race/ethnicity, seniority and department. The 4A’s signed on as a co-sponsor and agreed, for the first time, to conduct an annual diversity survey to create industry benchmarks. But, of course, we’ve been here before. In 2009, the NAACP launched the Madison Avenue Project and released a damning (if not surprising) report exposing the widespread and systematic under-hiring, under-utilization, and under-payment of Black
What’s So Scary About Critical Race Theory?
Critical race theory is an academic concept greater than 40 years old. The theory is centered on educating how race is a social construct, and that racism doesn’t originate in the individual, but rather has been embedded and fueled in our own legal system and policies. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, prominent CRT scholars emerged such as Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others. Most people are aware of the historic racism against blacks in the form of slavery, police brutality, and harassment by white supremacists, but fewer are aware of the economic barriers that have prevented black people from accessing a fair share and quality of living similar to white people. For instance, in the 1930s, government officials drew lines around areas noted as poor financial risks, often on the sole premise that their inhabitants were black residents. Banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to Black people in those areas. Among the topics studied and discussed in CRT include: History of racially segregated schools and other public places The underfunding of majority-Black and Latino school districts disproportionate disciplining of Black students Barriers to gifted programs and selective-admission high schools curricula that reinforce racist ideas. 3 key opposition points to having CRT taught in schools include: Young white students can feel shame unnecessarily CRT teaches students to live in the past and not focus on the present CRT makes black students develop a victim mentality In a testimony on Thursday to a committee evaluating mental health in Kansas, Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican, said, “If you are confronted with the fact that because of the color of your skin you are racist, that can manifest shame.” Where Kristey Williams is wrong is the fact that true shame has to do with trying to hide history or its impact on the present day. Should we as a country feel shame for racism and unjustified deaths as a result of racism? The answer is yes. We should also feel shame for how we forced Native Americans off their own land and put Asian Americans especially Japanese-Americans in internment camps following the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Should these topics be avoided just because they make us as Americans feel shame? The answer is no. In a video posted by Middle Ground, black Americans debate many issues such as: People need to “get over” slavery Being black shouldn’t influence your political view Why should we support Black Lives Matter? All I have to do is walk out my front door and around my suburban block to see that the number of Blue Lives Matter signs dominate in yards over the number of Black Lives Matter signs. To me, the most disturbing part is that I develop preconceived beliefs about these Blue Lives Matter neighbors. Are the Blue Matters Movement neighbors upset because police officer deaths don’t get covered in the news as much? Do they think that black people get special victim treatment that is not given to white police officers? What would they think if I walked past their yard wearing a #BlackLivesMatter t-shirt? Would they curse under their breath, say something derogatory to me, or just ignore me? Would they still say, hi? I’m not one for putting signs in my yard to attract attention, but if I were, I’d find a sign which combined Blue Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter both in a heart. Might sound sentimental or too wishy-washy like I should be forced to choose between one or the other, but unity is what this world desperately needs right now. Our neighborhoods need to know that police should continue to care about improving Black lives, and that Black people should continue to care about restoring trust in the police and the polices’ lawful oath to protect our communities. Whether it be black unemployment rates, the low # of black CEO’s in today’s workforce, or the high # of black prisoners, there is a heck of a lot of work still to be done to improve living conditions for Black people across the board. Look at the statistics below: What states have advocated for anti-CRT state legislation? See this list: Eight states (Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, Arizona, and South Carolina) have passed legislation. None of the state bills that have passed even actually mention the words “critical race theory” explicitly, with the exception of Idaho. The legislations mostly ban the discussion, training, and/or orientation that the U.S. is inherently racist in addition to education about conscious and unconscious bias, privilege, discrimination, and oppression. State actors in Montana and South Dakota have denounced CRT teaching concepts. The state school boards in Florida, Georgia, Utah, and Oklahoma introduced new guidelines barring CRT-related discussions. Local school boards in Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia also criticized CRT. Nearly 20 additional states have introduced or plan to introduce similar legislation. What’s your stance? Should CRT be taught in schools? Let us know in our social posts!
The Man Behind The Book Witch Hunt
Imagine a society where government authorities seize schools and confiscate any books that they deem “inappropriate”. Sure this may seem like science fiction similar to the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury where a fireman is employed to burn outlawed books, along with the houses they are hidden in. In the novel, the tyrannical government believes that burning books will make everyone happier because there would be no way to retrieve data- no way citizens could stand against the government and its fixed views of how their society should live. And, here in 2021, Matt Krause, a Texas representative, is trying to bring Fahrenheit 451 to reality by demanding schools statewide tell him whether they currently hold any of around 850 books on a list he’s compiled. Krause sent a letter on Monday to the Texas Education Agency and superintendents of school districts around the state, asking each official to acknowledge if their schools possess any book on his list, along with a detailed report of where the books are and how much money was spent on them. He is targeting books that according to him: “Might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.” Krause expressed he wants to remove books from libraries and classrooms if they focus on issues from transgender identity to critical race theory. Fiction Stories on Krause’s list include: The Great American Whatever, a young adult novel by Tim Federle “Pink is a Girl Color”… and the other silly things people say, a children’s picture book by Stacy and Erik Drageset. Non-fiction book titles include: How Prevalent is Racism in Society? by Peggy J. Parks We Are All Born Free: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Pictures by Amnesty International Some of the books on Krause’s list explain puberty and reproduction, others describe pregnancy and abortion. How our own schools respond to Krause’s book witch hunt will tell about our moral backbone as a country. Are we going to even consider Krause’s approach to raising our youth in a society where they’re deprived of education on topics such as transgender identity, historic racism, and female reproductive rights? Perhaps the more disturbing part of this story hinges on the fact that Krause himself is a father of 5 children- five children who will be told by him to close their eyes and mind to all these important topics. His children will grow up thinking there is no identity such as transgender, that racism has never existed in American society, and that we as people all are not born free. Perhaps this is a public stunt by Krause to gain media attention as he’s one of several Republicans challenging Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is seeking reelection in next March’s party primary. When Krause’s office was contacted, nobody of course was available for comment. Maybe he’s trying to grow his list to reach 1,000? Maybe he’s afraid that just like in Harry Potter, pages from the novels he’s trying to ban will come flying into his home through his mail slots and chimneys? If only we could make that happen. Krause has given school officials until November 12th to reply to his book witch hunt. I say we give him till the end of October to resign from representing our country, and then force him to sit in a room to read all the 850 novels he’s told schools to ban. Then, only maybe then, will Representative Krause emerge somewhat enlightened.
Nielsen: African Americans Consume More Media
By Radio Ink -October 27, 2021 New data shows African Americans spend more time consuming media than any other group, yet there continues to be a lack of representation of the collective Black community. Nielsen’s 2021 African American Consumer Report explores the influence of Black Culture on content and media trends. “As the media industry looks to be more inclusive of Black storytellers and brands look to grow their bottom lines and brand awareness with Black audiences, understanding who we are, where we’re connected, and how we’re changing is as important as ever,” according to Charlene Polite Coreley, VP, Diverse Insights & Partnerships.” Key findings from the report include: The preference to connect with meaningful content extends to audio with traditional radio reaching 92% of the U.S. Black population each week, and this same group of listeners averaging over an hour and a half a week of streaming audio. Traditional radio continues to prove the power of its reach providing the gossip, pandemic guidance, and breaking news that’s kept Black listeners connected this year, for over 21 million minutes a week. Black listeners aren’t just streaming audio more than other audiences, they’re listening closely when brands reach out—averaging a 73% brand recall for podcast ads. According to Nielsen, “As Black Americans continue to video stream, listen to radio and podcasts, as well as buy Black, they continue to lead the conversation and stay connected through social media — having an unprecedented impact on brands and what consumers watch, purchase, and listen to.” The reports authors make the point that Black Buying Power is significant – $1.57 Trillion in 2020. Nielsen’s 10th-Year African American Consumer Report Explores The Power Of The Black Community From Moment To Movement
National Coming Out Day
Did you know yesterday, October 11th was National Coming Out Day? For many young adults, coming out publicly can be one of the hardest life challenges. There is the constant worry, What will my mom, dad, brother, sister, grandparents, friends, teachers think or say? In an official White House Briefing Room release, President Joe Biden said the following: “Today, we celebrate National Coming Out Day and the courage of LGBTQ+ people who live their lives with pride, create community with open arms and hearts, and showcase the strength of being your authentic self. Today and every day, I want every member of the LGBTQ+ community to know that you are loved and accepted just the way you are – regardless of whether or not you’ve come out.” Within Joe Biden’s own administration is Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation. Not only did Mayor Pete shatter a glass ceiling by being the 1st openly gay cabinet member in a US president’s administration, he and his husband Chasten also welcomed two adopted twins, Penelope Rose and Joseph August, into their family. Mayor Pete also served from 2009 to 2017 as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant. He was mobilized and deployed to the War in Afghanistan for seven months in 2014 and was quoted as saying, “People who got into my vehicle to serve their country didn’t care if I was Republican or Democrat, straight or gay.” Mayor Pete hasn’t been the only one whose shown immense bravery in adverse situations. In a conservative Oklahoma community, one dad, John Wyatt, supported his gay son named Caden with a Pride flag outside their home. The flag-hanging moment with Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” playing in the background was captured on TikTok and received over 1 million views and 400,000 likes. In the past, John was not supportive of the LGBTQ community due to his conservative and religious views, Buzzfeed reported. That all changed when he and his wife realized early on that Caden might be gay. “That’s when we really started embracing [the community], because we knew our son was gay, and at any time he could come out,” John told Buzzfeed. Making in-roads to coming out has even made its way into DC Comics as they announced that Jon Kent, the son of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, will be the “Superman of Earth” and become romantically involved with reporter Jay Nakamura in an upcoming issue of the series “Superman: Son of Kal-El.” Sports athletes have become more comfortable with coming out. Going back to 1981, women’s tennis star Billie Jean King was outed as a lesbian and defied her publicists who told her to deny the claim. She said, “I’m going to do it. I don’t care. This is important to me, to tell the truth.’” List of other Notable Athletes Who’ve Come Out Over the Years Michael Sam became the first openly gay man to be drafted in the NFL and came out during his interview with ESPN. He was then was drafted by the St. Louis Rams. Ryan Russel became the first openly bisexual person in the NFL in 2019 and in any major pro league Robbie Rogers in 2013 was the first openly gay soccer player in a professional league Jason Collins became the NBA’s first openly gay player in 2015 Adam Rippon, a figure skater, became the first openly gay American to qualify for the Olympics Greg Louganis is an accomplished Olympic diver announced he was an out, gay man in 1994 And Megan Rapinoe, US Women’s soccer team captain, has always used her strong voice of support for women’s rights and LGBTQ rights. Yet, despite the in-roads and progress, we have made, the United States has proven it can better represent LGBT +women and LGBTQ+men in the general workforce. According to a 2019 William Institute, UCLA School of Law, and McKinsey study, LGBTQ+ women and men struggle at every stage of the management pipeline with very low percentages of making it even entry-level. Joe Biden said on National Coming Out Day yesterday, “Despite the extraordinary progress our nation has made, our work to ensure the full promise of equality is not yet done. Anti-LGBTQ+ bills still proliferate in state legislatures. Bullying and harassment — particularly of young transgender Americans and LGBTQ+ people of color — still abound, diminishing our national character.” We want to hear from you, our readers: What do you think we can do in our communities to promote full equality and provide great opportunities to all Americans regardless of their sexual orientation?
