Overall Unemployment: 6.7% (6.6%)
African America Unemployment: 12.0% (12.1%)
Latino America Unemployment: 8.1% (8.4%)
European America Unemployment: 5.8% (5.7%)
Asian America Unemployment: 6.0% (4.8%)
Previous month in parentheses.
Analysis: Overall unemployment rate rose 10 basis points. Both African America and Latino America saw declines in their unemployment rates of 10 and 30 basis points, respectively. Asian and European America saw increases of 120 and 10 basis points, respectively. With such a dramatic rise in Asian America’s unemployment rate, for the first time in a long time, European America now has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. African America remains the only group with a double digit unemployment rate.
African American Male Unemployment: 12.9% (12.0%)
African American Female Unemployment: 9.9% (10.4%)
African American Teenage Unemployment: 32.4% (38.0%)
African American Male Participation: 66.6% (66.2%)
African American Female Participation: 61.9% (61.5%)
African American Teenage Participation: 24.9% (26.4%)
Previous month in parentheses.
Analysis: Unemployment rates for females and teenagers saw declines of 50 and 560 basis points, respectively. Males saw an increase of 90 basis points in their unemployment rate. Participation rates for both males and females increased by 40 basis points for both groups. The teenage group saw its participation rate drop by 150 basis points.
Conclusion: The overall economy added 175 000 jobs. African America picked up 106 000 jobs. The female and teenage groups both netted positive job gains with the groups picking up 106 000 and 12 000 jobs, respectively. African American males lost 14 000 jobs, but still hold on to their second highest number of employed in the past five months. Unfortunately, the employment-population ratio is at its lowest in the past five months as well. African American women broke out hitting five month highs in participation rate, employment-population ratio, and number of employed. As a group, African American women continue to shoulder the burden of income and labor in African America. This month has the largest gap between the male-female employed numbers, with women holding 1.3 million more jobs. The teenage group sees a significant drop in its unemployment rate, but sees its labor force at its lowest in five months, its employed numbers at its second lowest, and participation rate at its lowest as well over the past five months. Overall, African American employment is at its highest mark in the past five months, but it is completely relying on the shoulders of the female group as the male and teenage groups continue to be frozen out of employment.
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