Overall Unemployment: 5.8% (5.9%)
African America Unemployment: 10.9% (11.0%)
Latino America Unemployment: 6.8% (6.9%)
European America Unemployment: 4.8% (5.1%)
Asian America Unemployment: 5.0% (4.3%)
Previous month in parentheses.
Analysis: The overall unemployment rate dropped 10 basis points. Three of the four groups saw declines in their unemployment rate led by the European American group with a drop of 30 basis points. Asian America had an increase of 70 basis points in their unemployment rate. African America continues to be the only group with double digit unemployment.
African American Male Unemployment: 10.7% (11.0%)
African American Female Unemployment: 9.4% (9.6%)
African American Teenage Unemployment: 32.6% (30.5%)
African American Male Participation: 67.7% (68.5%)
African American Female Participation: 61.4% (61.4%)
African American Teenage Participation: 29.0% (28.6%)
Previous month in parentheses.
Analysis: African American males saw their unemployment rate drop by 30 basis points, but their participation rate dropped by 80 basis points. African American females saw their unemployment rate drop by 20 basis points while their participation rate remained unchanged. African American teenagers saw a rise of 210 basis points in their unemployment rate, but did see an increase in their participation rate of 40 basis points.
CONCLUSION: The overall unemployed added 214 000 jobs in October. Another healthy number in job growth for the country as a whole and marks the 49th straight month of job gains. African America saw a pullback on their recent job growth with a decline of 41 000 jobs and two months of gains and two months of losses over the past five months. Despite the loss, employment remains at its second highest number over the past five months. The participation rate also remains at its second highest rate over the past five months. African American teenagers continue to be the group making strides with an increase in number of employed and participation rate. Job growth while staying positive continues to be plagued by stagnant wages and continued threat of deflation in the economy. The overall economy seems to be less fragile, but African America’s seems to be mired in its own recession with erratic patterns of job gains and losses month to month. African America’s labor force also dropped 77 000 showing a disturbing trend of many dropping out of the job search pool. At the current labor force, it would require 183 000 job gain in November for African America to drop its unemployment rate to 9.9 percent.
HBCU Money 