Go Lean Commentary
Joe versus Jose; Emily versus Lakisha [a] – race still matters very much in the US labor market. So says the following VIDEO from NBC News The Today Show and the research in the appendix below.
Title: What’s in a name when you apply for a job?
By: NBC News – The Today ShowA man named Jose spent six fruitless months looking for work online. But when he dropped the “s” from his name and applied as “Joe,” the job offers started coming in.
NBC News – The Today Show – September 4, 2014 –
http://www.today.com/video/today/55986337#55986337
One would think that such a racially-charged society was only representative of the America of old; that now America has transformed, to the point that the President is of African-American descent. But it must be concluded that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
The issue in the foregoing news article/VIDEO relates to the lure of America as a destination for Caribbean immigrants. This is the labor market that new arrivals would have to navigate. Perhaps the shining light of that Welcome Sign should be dulled a little.
The story in the VIDEO, and the research in the Appendix, is being brought into focus in a consideration of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the economic optimization in the region. One mission of the roadmap is to minimize the “push-and-pull” factors that contribute to the alarmingly high societal abandonment rate of Caribbean citizens – one report reflects a 70% brain drain rate.
This blog/commentary also infers one additional issue, that of job creation. The Go Lean book posits that when the economic engines are not sufficient that people will flee, abandon their homelands, despite the love of family, friends and culture and endure all obstacles to secure a better livelihood. This has been the reality for all of the Caribbean, even the American member-states (Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands). If only, there would be a better option for the Caribbean?
Go Lean…Caribbean presents that option!
This CU/Go Lean roadmap provides the turn-by-turn details with the following 3 prime directives:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The roadmap posits that the United States of America should not be viewed as the panacea for Caribbean ailments; that when the choices of a challenge is “fight or flight” that Caribbean society must now consider the “fight” options. (No violent conflict is being advocated, but rather a strenuous effort, heavy-lifting, to compete and win economic battles).
As related in the foregoing article/VIDEO, America is not so welcoming a society for the “Black and Brown” populations from the Caribbean – and yet they come, there are in the USA and their numbers cannot be ignored. Here is the need for the heavy-lifting, to effect change to dissuade further brain drain and in reverse to incentivize repatriation. While not ignoring the “push” reasons that cause people to flee, the book stresses (early at Page 13) the need to be on-guard for this fight in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:
xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.
xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.
xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.
xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.
This commentary previously related details of the Caribbean Diaspora experience, the “push-and-pull” factors in the US, and our region’s own job-creation efforts. Here is a sample of earlier Go Lean blogs:
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025 | Caribbean Jobs – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1896 | American “Pull” Factors – Crisis in Black Homeownership |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698 | American “Pull” Factors – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1596 | Book Review: “Prosper Where You Are Planted” |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1433 | Caribbean loses more than 70 percent of tertiary educated to brain drain |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1296 | Remittances to Caribbean Increased By 3 Percent in 2013 |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1256 | Traditional 4-year College Degree are Terrible Investments for the Caribbean Region |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599 | Ailing Puerto Rico Open to Radical Economic Fixes To Keep Citizens At Home |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623 | Book Review: “The Divide – American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap” |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273 | 10 Things We Don’t Want from the US – Discrimination of Immigrations |
| http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=209 | Muhammad Ali and Role Model/Advocate Kevin Connolly – Demanding Equal Rights in America’s Supreme Court |
For the Caribbean Diaspora, fleeing from their homelands to reside in the US is akin to “jumping from the frying pan into the fire”. While we may not be able to change American society, we can – no, we must – impact our own society. How? What? When? Why? All of these questions are valid, because the answers are difficult. The Go Lean book describes the solution as heavy-lifting.
This is the charge of the Go Lean…Caribbean roadmap: to do the heavy-lifting, to implement the organizational dynamics to impact Caribbean society here and now. The following are the community ethos, strategies, tactics and operational advocacies to effectuate this goal:
| Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influences Choices & Incentives | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choice Lie in the Future | Page 21 |
| Community Ethos – Job Multiplier | Page 22 |
| Community Ethos – Minority Equalization | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Lean Operations | Page 24 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius | Page 27 |
| Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good | Page 37 |
| Strategy – Vision – Make the Caribbean the Best Address on Planet | Page 45 |
| Strategy – Mission – Repatriate Diaspora | Page 46 |
| Strategy – Mission – Dissuade Human Flight/“Brain Drain” | Page 46 |
| Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Labor – Equal Opportunities | Page 89 |
| Implementation – Ways to Deliver | Page 109 |
| Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate | Page 118 |
| Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization | Page 119 |
| Planning – Ways to Better Manage Image | Page 133 |
| Planning – Lessons from the US Constitution | Page 145 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy | Page 151 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs | Page 152 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact Labor Unions | Page 164 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora | Page 217 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage | Page 218 |
| Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories | Page 244 |
| Appendix – Analysis of Caribbean Diaspora by Country of Residence | Page 267 |
| Appendix – Analysis of Caribbean Emigration | Page 269 |
| Appendix – Puerto Rican Population in the US | Page 304 |
The scope of this roadmap is to focus on the changes we have to make in the Caribbean, not the changes for American society. Our success is conceivable, believable and achievable. The Caribbean can be the world’s best address. Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in to this Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap.
This is a big deal for the region. This roadmap is not just a plan, its a prescription. We want the current Jose’s and Lakisha’s to fully “be all they can be”, here at home in the Caribbean. Let’s show America, and the world in general, that our homeland, is the best place to live, work and play, no matter our name.
Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
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Appendix a: Emily versus Lakisha
The following is the summary/introduction of a landmark study conducted by academicians in 2004:
We study race in the labor market by sending fictitious resumes to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers. To manipulate perceived race, resumes are randomly assigned African-American or White-sounding names. White names receive 50 percent more callbacks for interviews. Callbacks are also more responsive to resume quality for White names than for African-American ones. The racial gap is uniform across occupation, industry, and employer size. We also find little evidence that employers are inferring social class from the names. Differential treatment by race still appears to be prominent in the U.S. labor market.
Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan (2004). “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination”; The American Economic Review. Published September 2004. Retrieved September 4, 2014 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3592802?origin=JSTOR-pdf