In 2015, black median household income was $29,223 while white median household income was $58,232. The black labor force participation rate was 61.2 percent compared with 67 percent for white workers, which the COWS report found was the second-largest gap in the country just ahead of Illinois.

The Rev. Alex Gee, founder of the Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, said part of the problem is that companies don’t know how to connect with workers in the black community. The lack of outreach has led to talented, educated black people moving to other states with better opportunities, while black people trapped in generational poverty remain in Madison and Milwaukee.

“I don’t think employers are aware of some of the atmospheric changes they need to make to be welcoming to women and people of color,” Gee said. “They think if they have an opening, people will come. It doesn’t quite work that way.”

Gee pointed to the case of Harry Hawkins, 38, who moved here with his family from Atlanta in 2012 to take a job as a jewelry store manager, but eventually found himself out of work and struggling to find a management job despite having 10 years experience and a bachelor’s degree from the for-profit Colorado Technical University.