Overall Unemployment: 4.5% (4.7%)
African America Unemployment: 8.0% (8.1%)
Latino America Unemployment: 5.1% (5.6%)
European America Unemployment: 3.9% (4.1%)
Asian America Unemployment: 3.3% (3.4%)
Previous month in parentheses.
Analysis: Overall unemployment dropped 20 basis points. All groups saw a decline, led by Latino America with 50 basis points.
African American Male Unemployment: 8.2% (7.8%)
African American Female Unemployment: 6.6% (7.1%)
African American Teenage Unemployment: 24.3% (24.3%)
African American Male Participation: 68.1% (67.8%)
African American Female Participation: 62.7% (62.7%)
African American Teenage Participation: 27.7% (30.0%)
Analysis: African American males saw an increase of 40 basis points, while females saw a decrease of 50 basis points in unemployment rates. African American teenagers saw a decrease of 230 basis points in their participation rate, the lowest number in the past five months.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 98 000 jobs in March. A grave disappointment from the 235 000 jobs added in February and approximately half of the 180 000 many economist expected. Many will point to two major stumbling blocks in the economy right now being lack of tax cuts and infrastructure build that would provide stimulus to the economy. It is worth noting that over the past month, ETF indexes that short each of the major indexes have been begun to trend upward. A sign that the air maybe coming out of one of the longest bull runs after a recession in history.
African America currently needs 693 000 jobs to match America’s unemployment rate. An decrease of 45 000 from February.
HBCU Money 