President Obama believes that the values that made our economy the strongest in the world include making sure everyone does their fair share, everyone gets a fair shake, and hard work and responsibility are rewarded. That's why President Obama has worked to improve the lives of all Americans, including African-Americans, by providing economic and educational opportunities, improving health care coverage, working to ensure that the criminal justice system is applied fairly to all citizens, and championing workforce development to ensure we continue to develop and retain the strongest, most productive workforce in the world. During this Administration, African-Americans have made enormous strides in many of these areas. Even so, more work remains to further improve economic outcomes for African Americans and fight to rid our country of the long-term disparities that have put the African American community at a disadvantage. This Administration's record includes:
Restoring Economic Security to African American Families: Businesses have added over 14 million jobs over 70 straight months of job growth, the longest streak on record. While we still have more to do, this job growth has helped cut the African American unemployment rate in half — from 16.8 percent in March 2010 to 8.3 percent in December 2015, its lowest level since September 2007. The African-American unemployment rate has fallen by more than the overall unemployment rate in the past few years, and is further below its pre-recession level than any other racial or ethnic group. But we have more work to do. Putting Americans back to work, spurring economic growth, and restoring security for middle class families remain the President's top priorities.
Permanent Tax Cuts that Promote Work and Reduce Poverty: The President established and recently made permanent significant improvements to tax credits for working families. The Earned Income Tax Credit ( EITC ) and Child Tax Credit ( CTC ) were expanded to encourage work and help low-income parents afford the costs of raising a family, together providing about 16 million families a year with a tax cut averaging $900. These tax credit expansions provide about 2 million African American families a year with an average tax cut of about $1,000 each. Because of these improvements, a single parent working full-time, year-round at the federal minimum wage gets an additional CTC of more than $1,700; if the expansion were not in place, that parent would not receive any CTC.
Providing Additional Tax Relief for Working and Middle Class Families: In addition to the tax cuts already enacted, the President's Budget proposes additional tax relief for working and middle class families, including to triple the child care tax credit for children under 5, expand access to workplace savings opportunities, and enact a second earner tax credit to help married couples in which both spouses work. The President's proposal to expand the EITC for workers without qualifying children, including non-custodial parents, would also promote and reward work, including those who experience difficulty connecting to the labor force. This proposal would directly reduce poverty and hardship for 13.2 million low-income workers—including about 2 million African-Americans. The President's Budget would pay for these important reforms by eliminating the biggest loopholes that let the wealthy avoid paying their fair share and by imposing a fee on large financial institutions.
Making College More Accessible and Affordable: The President signed legislation increasing the maximum Pell Grant by more than $1,000 and total Pell Grant funding by 70 percent, helping millions of low- and moderate-income students afford college every year. He's also taken steps to reduce student loan burdens, including ending student loan subsidies for private banks and shifting the savings back to students, reducing student loan interest rates to historic lows, and capping student loan payments at 10 percent of income for all students. The President also established and made permanent the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a tax cut of up to $10,000 over four years for nearly 10 million working and middle-class families a year paying for college. The President's Budget would build on this progress by simplifying and expanding education tax benefits, including an expanded AOTC that is available for five years and provides additional support to low-income students and families. The President's Budget also supports America's College Promise, which would make community college free for responsible students.
Getting more Americans into Better, Higher Paying Jobs: Last July, the Administration — with the leadership of Vice President Biden—released a plan for our job-training and employment programs to be more responsive to the needs of employers in order to effectively place ready-to-work Americans in jobs that are available now or train them in the skills needed for better jobs. Since then we have awarded over 15 competitive job-training grants that total over $1.2 billion and more than $8 billion in non-competitive formula funding that incorporate the job-driven training elements such as stronger employer engagement, work-based learning approaches, better use of labor market information, and accountability for employment outcomes. We have targeted some of our biggest competitive grant programs toward expanding proven, job-driven strategies including the largest-ever competitive investment into expanding apprenticeship with $175 million in American Apprenticeship grants to 46 winners across the country, which have collectively committed to adding 34,000 more apprentices through their efforts. And we are working with employers, communities, and training providers to get more Americans into better, higher paying jobs with new initiatives like Techhire, which now includes commitments from more than 30 cities, states and rural areas in partnership with 450 employers to significantly expand innovative training and hiring models to get more people into tech jobs that pay one and a half times that average private sector wage. The Department of Labor has also proposed a rule to increase equal employment opportunity in apprenticeship programs for traditionally under-represented groups.
Helping the Long-Term Unemployed Get Back to Work: The Administration has taken steps to help more of the long-term unemployed get back to work, around one-quarter of whom are African-American. The President unveiled a set of "best practices" being taken by leading employers — including over 80 members of the Fortune 500 and over 20 members of the Fortune 50 — around recruiting and hiring the long-term unemployed, to remove some of the barriers that make it harder for them to navigate the hiring process. The Department of Labor awarded nearly $170 million in "Ready to Work Partnership" grants to support the best models for partnerships between employers, non-profits, and the job training system to help train and connect the long-term unemployed to work.
Rebuilding Transportation Infrastructure, Rejuvenating the American Workforce: In December, President Obama made a down-payment on a 21st century transportation system when he the signed the Fixing America's Surface Transportation ( FAST ) Act into law. This long-term transportation bill — the first passed by Congress in 10 years — increases federal funding with local development in mind. Transportation accounts for 11 million jobs, and transportation-related employment accounted for about 8.7 percent of civilian workers in the United States. In 2008, African Americans comprised only 6 percent of the industry, and women comprised only 3 percent. Every $1 billion we invest in infrastructure supports more than 10,000 jobs and that is exactly why this Administration launched the new one-year pilot program, Local Hire. This means that recipients of highway and transit grants are now allowed to use hiring programs in which preference is given to local residents, low-income workers, and veterans. As a result, Federal Highway Administration's On-the-Job Training ( OJT ) Program requires State DOTs to make full use of apprenticeship and training programs targeted to develop the skills of women, minorities, and disadvantaged individuals to ensure that a competent workforce is available to meet highway construction hiring needs.
Smart Transportation Planning Creates Opportunity: Transportation infrastructure can revitalize communities, create pathways to work, and connect hardworking Americans to a better quality of life. This is evident in seven cities across America participating in this Administration's Ladders of Opportunity Transportation Empowerment Pilot. Leadership in Atlanta, Baltimore, Baton Rouge, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and Richmond are receiving technical assistance to ensure that improving their local infrastructure also translates to economic growth that doesn't leave anyone behind. The working poor spent nearly 10 percent of their income just commuting to work, more than twice the 4 percent average for the total population. Transit users in cities with robust transit systems can save up to $10,230 per year by taking transit rather than owning a vehicle. The on-the-ground work provided through LadderSTEP allows for this and results in mixed-use communities nationwide that include housing in varying income ranges, jobs, an improved environment for pedestrians and bicyclists, and amenities like entertainment venues, parks, and retail —all within a short walk from a transit stop.
Expanding Overtime Protections: In June, the President announced that the Department of Labor ( DOL ) would propose extending overtime pay protections to almost 5 million workers. DOL's proposed rule, if finalized, would entitle most salaried workers earning less than a projected $50,400 next year to the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime protections. The proposed rule would prevent a future erosion of overtime rights and ensure greater predictability by automatically updating the salary threshold in the future. It would help promote higher take-home pay and allow workers to better balance their work and family obligations. In so doing, it would help shore up the middle class and provide an easier pathway for those aspiring to share in the standard of living it affords.
