African America’s August Jobs Report – 11.4%

Overall Unemployment: 6.1% (6.2%)

African America Unemployment: 11.4% (11.4%)

Latino America Unemployment: 7.5% (7.8%)

European America Unemployment: 5.3% (5.3%)

Asian America Unemployment: 4.5% (4.5%)

Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: The overall unemployment rate dropped 10 basis points. Unemployment rates for African, Asian, and European America went unchanged. Latino America saw its unemployment rate drop 30 basis points. African America remains the only group with double digit unemployment.

African American Male Unemployment: 10.8% (11.1%)

African American Female Unemployment: 10.6% (10.1%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 32.8% (34.9%)

African American Male Participation: 67.3% (68.0%)

African American Female Participation: 61.5% (62.3%)

African American Teenage Participation: 25.9% (25.3%)

Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: African American males saw their unemployment rate drop 30 basis points and participation rate drop 70 basis points. African American females unemployment rate rose 50 basis points and participation rate drop 80 basis points. African American teenagers unemployment rate dropped 210 basis points and participation rate rose by 60 basis points.

CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 142 000 jobs in August. A significant disappointment from most economist estimates. After 3 straight months of job growth for African America, the growth came to a bruising halt in August with a loss of 76 000 jobs. No group suffered more than African American women who loss 155 000 jobs dropping to their second lowest number of employed over the past 5 months. A disturbing notion since African American women continue to be the cornerstone of the economic health for African American families. Despite the losses, the number of African Americans employed and participation rate are both still the second highest they have been in the past 5 months. The real question is whether this is the start of a trend downward for African America or just a temporary blip. It would take 291 000 jobs to get the African American unemployment rate to 9.9 percent.