I don't see what the problem is; if these people wanted jobs, then they shouldn't have been unemployed:
There's a growing trend of employers refusing to consider the unemployed for job openings, according to a number of people who testified before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Wednesday. They say that employers are barring the unemployed from job openings, which is particularly unfair to older workers and African Americans because more of them are unemployed.
Several examples of discriminatory help-wanted ads were offered: a Texas electronics company said online that it would "not consider/review anyone NOT currently employed regardless of the reason"; an ad for a restaurant manager position in New Jersey said applicants must be employed; a phone manufacturer's job announcement said "No Unemployed Candidates Will Be Considered At All," according to Helen Norton, associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.
As you can probably imagine, this disproportionately affects African Americans and Latinos, for whom unemployment is high and enduring. Relatedly, there aren't any demographic stats on the long-term unemployed, but it's still true that a record number of people have been unemployed for more than a year, and it's very likely that minorities are overrepresented in the group. As a quick reminder, more than 4 million people have been unemployed for longer than a year:
Of course, this will fix itself once we cut discretionary spending, slash entitlements, reduce taxes on high earners, and bring "discipline" to the federal budget. Or something.
