Do “Soft Skills” Explain the Low Employment Rate for Black Men?

One explanation for the low Black male employment rate that has been put forth by prominent scholars is that Black men are weak in what are called “soft skills.” For example, the distinguished sociologist William Julius Wilson writes in More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City, “In the past, men simply had to demonstrate a strong back and muscles to be hired for physical labor in a factory, at a construction site, or on an assembly line; they interacted with peers and foremen...