Gallup: Blacks feel whites have advantage in getting jobs

As in 1963, a majority U.S. blacks now say they believe whites have the advantage in the job market, a Gallup poll released Wednesday indicated. The results, released on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, indicated 60 percent of blacks said they thought whites have better chances than blacks to get jobs while 39 percent said they thought blacks and whites have equal opportunities. Blacks' views in the latest survey are more positive now than they were in 1963, when 74 percent said they thought whites had better chances at jobs, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said. Gallup said blacks have felt disadvantaged versus whites in terms of job hiring in all but a few instances over the last 50 years. Blacks' perceptions about equality in childhood education are more positive, Gallup said. Fifty-six percent of blacks said they believe black children have the same chance as white children in their community to get a good education. Forty-three percent said they held the opposite view. A narrow majority of blacks, 51 percent, said they thought blacks have as good a chance as whites to obtain any housing they can afford, while 48 percent said they did not. Results are based on nationwide telephone interviews conducted Aug. 9-22 with a sample of 1,001 adult blacks. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.