Attention African American’s struggling to find a job in today’s job market, George W. Bush’s miserable economic policies may not be the only reason for your unemployment. It could be your name.

According to a study conducted by the University of Chicago Business School, your name may have something to do with who gets the call back interviews. Researchers conducted an experiment to measure racial discrimination in the labor market by sending out the same resume with “white” sounding names and “black” sounding names in answering the same want ads. The research concluded that white names elicit about 50% more call backs than black sounding names.

White sounding names such as Emily, Brad, Todd and Jill do significantly better in the job market with the same credentials as Jamal, Tanisha, Tyrome and Lakisha. Proving that education alone will not alleviate the unfair racial prejudices some employers hold. It seems that absent affirmative action, white employers will choose white applicants. Although not the goal of the study, it proves that affirmative action continues to be necessary to provide some sort of equity in the job market. Unemployment for African Americans is double that of white Americans 11.8 percent compared to 5.5 percent for White Americans as of July 2003. Makes you wonder what are the names of the 6.3% difference.