Category Archives: Economics

African America’s January Unemployment Report – 13.8%

Posted on February 11, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Overall Unemployment: 7.9% (7.8%)

African America Unemployment: 13.8% (14.0%)

Latino America Unemployment: 9.7% (9.6%)

European America Unemployment: 7.0% (6.9%)

Asian America Unemployment: 6.5% (6.6%)

Analysis: Unemployment remained virtually unchanged amongst all groups with no significant moves in either direction. African America’s unemployment leads the way with the largest decline among the four reported groups but not a drop of much substance. Asian America continues to lead the way with the lowest unemployment rate.

African American Male Unemployment: 13.4% (14.0%)

African American Female Unemployment: 12.3% (12.2%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 37.8% (40.5%)

African American Male Participation: 67.8% (67.4%)

African American Female Participation: 62.7% (62.2%)

African American Teenage Participation: 27.5% (25.1%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: African American teenage unemployment led the way with a significant drop. The teenagers also led in participation. A first in some time that this group in crisis has had its unemployment go down and participation go up meaning as they come into the labor pool they are actually finding jobs. African American men also can say the same as they too saw a drop in unemployment and rise in participation rate. African American women saw virtually no change in their unemployment rate but did a healthy uptick in participation rate.

Conclusion: One of the healthiest months in recent memory for African America’s employment situation. As a whole African America picked up 246 000 jobs and is the most employed it has been in the past 5 months. African American men led the way picking up 128 000 jobs. African American women picked up 62 000 jobs but seem to be stuck in an a band over the past 5 months seeing its employed numbers stay roughly about the same as it gains and loses jobs pretty evenly over the time period. An area of concern could start to rise given that African American families are most dependent on women’s income since they head the majority of households. The teenage group has recovered to where it was 4 months ago but still far short of its past 5 month high. Teenage employment continues to show crisis like signs with no real solution in sight. Overall, there is some momentary relief but as always laid upon a fragile foundation.

Source: Department of Labor

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Percentage of Population With Graduate Degree Per HBCU State

Posted on February 7, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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While these numbers are reflective of each state’s population as a whole and not just African Americans (which are traditionally lower), it does offer a glimpse into opportunities where HBCUs can have major impact to become the educational leader of that state and thereby creating influence throughout their state and region for African Americans. It also speaks largely to the education and economic environment within a state. Arguably, Virginia is the only southern HBCU state to be above the national average. This is more than likely due to its northern Virginia region. In large part is shows that the primary concentration of HBCU states have much to do in order to the intellectual capital of the nation. An opportunity that HBCUs themselves will have to battle to influence given the social and political climate toward our institutions and the economic strain that continues to face the nation as a whole.

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STATE – % OF POPULATION WITH GRADUATE DEGREE

Washington D.C. – 29.2%

Massachusetts – 16.8%

Maryland – 16.5%

Virginia – 14.6%

New York – 14.2%

Delaware – 11.7%

Illinois – 11.7%

California – 11.1%

Pennsylvania -10.4%

Michigan – 9.9%

Georgia – 9.8%

Missouri – 9.7%

Florida – 9.3%

North Carolina – 9.2%

Ohio – 9.2%

Kentucky – 8.8%

Texas – 8.7%

Alabama – 8.4%

South Carolina – 8.4%

Tennessee – 8.3%

Oklahoma – 7.8%

Mississippi – 7.3%

Arkansas – 7.2%

Louisiana – 7.1%

Source: Bloomberg Visual Data

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Mortgage Delinquency Rate Per HBCU State

Posted on January 22, 2013 by | Leave a comment

From 2007 to 2009 there were 2 011 completed foreclosures per 10 000 loans. Of those 2 011 completed foreclosure, 40 percent were African Americans according to the Center for Responsible Lending. African America was second only to Latino America in terms of imminent risk of foreclosure with 21.4 percent and 21.6 percent, respectively, facing imminent foreclosure. Meanwhile, European and Asian America had 14.8 and 15.7 percent, respectively, facing imminent risk of foreclosure. Imminent risk is defined as borrowers who are two or more payments behind on their mortgage.

The Center for Responsible Lending also reports that the cost to the African American community between 2009-2012 due to foreclosures could be an estimated $194 billion. This is equivalent to an estimated 17.6 percent in value of African America’s current buying power for perspective. Below are the overall mortgage delinquency rates for each state that an HBCU is located in and not the mortgage delinquency rates for African Americans in that state.

The overall mortgage delinquency rate has risen 54.3 percent from 2008 to 2012 (pictured below). 2008 showed only 10 of the 24 HBCU states and territory being below the national mortgage delinquency rate. 2012 shows 16 of the 24 HBCU states and territory below the national mortgage delinquency rate. South Carolina and Delaware saw rises of 85 percent and 83 percent in their mortgage delinquency rate, respectively, to lead the way in increases. No states saw declines.

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December 2008

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December 2012

STATE – MORTGAGE DELINQUENCY RATE December 2012 (2008)

Arkansas – 3.4% (2.5%)

Missouri – 3.4% (2.5%)

Kentucky – 3.4% (2.6%)

Alabama – 3.7% (2.7%)

Tennessee – 3.9% (2.6%)

Oklahoma – 3.9% (2.7%)

Texas – 4.0% (3.0%)

Pennsylvania – 4.0% (2.5%)

Virginia – 4.0% (3.5%)

Washington D.C. – 4.1% (2.6%)

Ohio – 4.5% (3.5%)

North Carolina – 4.6% (2.6%)

Louisiana – 4.7% (3.0%)

Mississippi – 4.8% (3.3%)

Massachusetts – 5.1% (3.8%)

Michigan – 5.3% (4.0%)

South Carolina – 6.1% (3.3%)

Delaware – 6.4% (3.5%)

Georgia – 6.6% (4.2%)

Maryland – 7.3% (4.9%)

Illinois – 7.9% (4.5%)

New York – 9.5% (5.3%)

California – 10.2% (7.7%)

Florida – 18.9% (12.4%)

Source: Bloomberg Visual Data; Center for Responsible Lending; HBCU Endowment Foundation

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African America’s December Unemployment Report – 14.0%

Posted on January 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Overall Unemployment: 7.8% (7.7%)

African America Unemployment: 14.0% (13.2%)

Latino America Unemployment: 9.6% (9.9%)

European America Unemployment: 6.9% (6.8%)

Asian America Unemployment: 6.6% (6.4%)

Analysis: Unemployment rates rose across the board for all groups. Asian America maintains the lowest rate. African America showed the largest increase of all groups.

African American Male Unemployment: 14.0% (12.9%)

African American Female Unemployment: 12.2% (11.5%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 40.5% (39.3%)

African American Male Participation: 67.4% (66.9%)

African American Female Participation: 62.2% (62.3%)

African American Teenage Participation: 25.1% (27.0%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: African America saw substantial rises in all groups for unemployment rate. Overall African America added 29 000 jobs. African American male’s saw the largest rise in unemployment rate among all three groups. African America male’s were also the only group to see a rise in their participation rate which is a positive sign as they added 73 000 jobs. African American females participation rate remained stagnant but were able to add 10 000 jobs. Unfortunately, African American teenagers saw their unemployment rate rise and their participation rate fall as they shed 53 000 jobs. African American teenagers continue to be a crisis area for African America largely unnoticed.

Conclusion: African America made up 18.7 percent of the new jobs in December. A percentage well above the population’s percentage but still too few jobs to gain any economic ground amongst the other groups. While the African American male gain is promising, teenage employment loss is extremely troubling given the dependency on African American teenage income for families. African American teenagers continue to have the third highest unemployment rate in the developed world. The gains among African American males is a positive but should be taken with some reservation since most are occurring in low wage jobs. Underemployment continues to plague African America into the new year. As seasonal jobs are shed over the next month we could see the unemployment situation worsen for African America.

Source: Department of Labor

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African America’s November Unemployment Report – 13.2%

Posted on December 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Overall Unemployment: 7.7% (7.9%)

African America Unemployment: 13.2% (14.3%)

Latino America Unemployment: 10.0% (10.0%)

European America Unemployment: 6.8% (7.0%)

Asian America Unemployment: 6.4% (4.9%)

Analysis: Overall unemployment sees a drop with African America having the most significant drop. Latino America remains unchanged and European America sees a slight drop. Asian America is the only group that has a rise in its unemployment rate but remains the lowest of all groups.

African American Male Unemployment: 13.0% (14.1%)

African American Female Unemployment: 11.4% (12.4%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 39.4% (40.5%)

African American Male Participation: 67.1% (67.7%)

African American Female Participation: 62.4% (63.9%)

African American Teenage Participation: 27.3% (29.0%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: All African American groups see significant drops in unemployment rate and participation rate. The civilian labor force for African America dropped by 300 000 as many stopped looking for work. African American women were the most significant representation of those who stopped looking for work comprising approximately 200 000 or 66 percent of those who left the labor force. Approximately 16 million African Americans were employed last month and the change though downward is negligible. African American men picked up some jobs (44 000) but women and teenagers both saw declines of 80 000 and 19 000 respectively.

Conclusion: The overall economy added 146 000 jobs while African America loss 55 000 jobs. The African American economy continues to drudge along and is exhibiting signs it could be slipping deeper into recession. Hurricane Sandy was said not to have had a major impact on the overall economy but New York City is African America’s largest population center in terms of sheer numbers constituting 5 percent of African America’s total population so it is hard to imagine it not having an impact. The significant drop in African American women out of the labor force is alarming. Given the number of women-headed households being a significant presence in African America, a sign that African American women are discouraged from the job market does not bold well for African American families or the overall health of the African American economy. The loss in jobs is especially troubling because November is usually a time of seasonal hiring for the holidays. Jobs which usually are retail oriented and low wage but vital for families needing the additional income. An inability to increase jobs at this time of year shows an Africa America with a dire situation heading into 2013 as it will have to try to make up for those lost wages. The possibility of shadow market labor that goes unreported in employment numbers could hedge the problem but unlikely to completely stem the tide. Right now if there is good news in the African American economy it is hard to find and with looming political uncertainty around entitlement programs it appears African America could be facing a looming squeeze coupled with declining jobs will extremely hard to prepare for.

Source: Department of Labor

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