Milwaukee finished 2015 with an unemployment rate of approximately 20% for their black population

This is almost four times as high as the white unemployment rate for the city and the state of Wisconsin. This means that Milwaukee leads in murders and mayhem per capita, with a large number of these crimes occurring in mainly black neighborhoods, the same neighborhoods with the worst unemployment rates in the state. From 2011-2012, Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) posted an average high school suspension rate of 33%, which is more than three times the national average of 10%. The district suspended 43% of black students, 18% of Latino students and 16% of white students. According to state data, from 2012-2013, MPS suspended 26% of black high school students. From 2007-2008, a shockingly large number of black students were suspended — 56%. In addition, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee report released in 2013 found that Wisconsin has the highest incarceration rates for black males in the United States. The report states “records show incarceration rates at epidemic levels for African American males in Milwaukee County. Over half of African American men in their 30s and half of men in their early 40s have been incarcerated in state correctional facilities.” The median annual income of black households in the state is just $26,053, which is equal to just 46.5% the median income of white Wisconsin households of $56,083. With a white jobless rate of 4.4%, the state’s job market is relatively strong for the white population. For black Wisconsin residents, however, the unemployment rate is more than five times higher times higher, at 20.8%.