Unemployment rates nation-wide among black workers are nearly twice as high as those of white workers.
That's according to a report out Wednesday by a Washington-based economic think-tank.
The unemployment rate in Illinois was also about twice as high for blacks.
Ralph Martire is with the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability here.
He blames the disparity on the state's historic inequity of funding for minority schools.
MARTIRE: So basically when these children come out of their under-funded schools, they are less competitive than their white peers in a global economy.
Martire is a long-time advocate for changing the way Illinois pays for education.
He says equity in education could better prepare minorities for job opportunities in the new economy. His group collaborated on today's reports released by the Economic Policy Institute.