Why some blacks are praying for an auto bailout

Last Friday's unemployment numbers showed black unemployment at 11.2 percent, nearly double the white unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. And many blacks in majority-black Detroit are concerned about the impact on the economy if the city's automakers file bankruptcy.

Bishop Ellis was quick to respond. His church parked three sport utility vehicles on the altar on Sunday as the members prayed that the community would make it through the crisis.

Ellis leads an 8,000-member Pentecostal community described by the Times as the largest church in Detroit. Even United Automobile Workers officials came to speak and worship at the church on Sunday, where Ellis delivered his sermon, "A Hybrid Hope."

For many blacks in Detroit, this is a difficult holiday season. Ellis's special church service took place on the same weekend that the Economic Policy Institute released a new study showing that African Americans are especially at risk in the auto crisis. The report, authored by Robert E. Scott and Christian Dorsey, found that the share of black workers (14.2 percent) in automotive industries is "much higher" than their overall share of the labor force (11.2 percent).

About 118,000 African Americans worked in the auto industry in November 2008, many of whom would lose their jobs if the Big Three automakers closed down, the report says. That comes in an industry where the number of black autoworkers has already fallen by 19,000 since a year ago, according to the report.

"African Americans earn much higher wages in auto industry jobs than in other parts of the economy, and the loss of these solid, middle-class jobs would be a devastating blow," the EPI report concluded.

The average hourly wage for African Americans in the motor vehicle industry was $17.08 (excluding fringe benefits), EPI reported. In contrast, the average wage for African American in the rest of the economy was $15.44 per hour, according to EPI.