Analysis: Asian and European Americans both saw a decrease in their unemployment rate from December with a decrease of 20 and 10 basis points, respectively. Latino Americans saw no change in their unemployment rate. African Americans had an increase in their unemployment rate of 10 basis points for December.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 5.3%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 4.8%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 11.6%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 69.4%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 62.9%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 31.6%
Analysis: African American Men saw an increase in their unemployment rates by 70 basis points while African American Women remain unchanged for a third straight month from December. African American Men increased and Women decreased in their participation rate from December of 20 basis points and 30 basis points, respectively. African American Teenagers unemployment rate plumets by 640 basis points. They also had their participation rate increase by 90 basis points.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 728,000 more jobs than African American Men in January. This is an increase from 665,000 in December.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 335,000 jobs in January while African America loss 65,000 jobs. From Bloomberg, “Gains werebroad-based across sectors, led by professional and business services, health care, retail trade and social assistance. Nearly all sectors, except mining and gas extraction, saw additional jobs in January. Wages skyrocketed on the month and from the prior year, both above what economists expected to see. Average hourly earnings were up 0.6% from the prior month, double the average estimate, and rose 4.5% from the prior year. Part of the outsize gains could be attributed to reduced hours, which tend to distort pay. Hours worked fell to the lowest since March 2020.”
Analysis: European and Latino Americans both saw an increase in their unemployment rate from November with an increase of 20 and 40 basis points, respectively. African and Asian Americans both had decreases in their unemployment rate with decreases of 60 and 40 basis points for both groups from November, respectively.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 4.6%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 4.8%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 18.0%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 69.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 63.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 30.7%
Analysis: African American Men saw a significant decrease in their unemployment rates by 180 basis points while African American Women remain unchanged from November. African American Men and Women both had decreases in their participation rate from November of 10 basis points and 40 basis points, respectively. Extreme volatility with African American Teenagers remains as their unemployment rate skyrocketed by 5800 basis points, but also seeing their participation rate decrease by 80 basis points.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 665,000 more jobs than African American Men in December. This is a decrease from 890,000 in November.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 216,000 jobs in December while African America gained 66,000 jobs. From NPR, “For all of 2023, employers added 2.7 million jobs. That’s a slowdown from the two previous years, when the economy was red-hot, rapidly rebounding from pandemic layoffs. But last year’s job growth was still stronger than every other year since 2015.”
Analysis: Asian Americans were the only group to see an increase in their unemployment rate from October with a 40 basis point increase. European and Latino American both had decreases in their unemployment rate with a 20 basis point decrease for both groups from October.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 6.4%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 4.8%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 12.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN: 69.2%
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: 63.6%
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS: 31.6%
Analysis: African American Men and Women saw an increase and decrease in their unemployment rates by 110 and 50 basis points, respectively. African American Men saw a 170 basis point increase in their participation rate from October while African American Women had a 10 basis point decrease in their participation rate from October. African American Teenagers remain an extremely volatile group with their unemployment rate plummet by 660 basis points, but also seeing their participation rate increase by 60 basis points.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 890,000 more jobs than African American Men in November. This is a decrease from 970,000 in October.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 199,000 jobs in November while African America gained 264,000 jobs. From CNBC, “The data first raised concerns that the economy was running too hot for inflation to cool enough for the Fed to start retreating from its high-rates policy. Some traders expect the Fed to start cutting rates as early as next spring, with its latest policy meeting set for Wednesday.”
“With segregation, with the isolation of the injured and the robbed, comes the concentration of disadvantage. An unsegregated America might see poverty, and all its effects, spread across the country with no particular bias toward skin color. Instead, the concentration of poverty has been paired with a concentration of melanin.” – Ta-Nehisi Coates
HBCUs and PBIs are arguably African American institutions that are built to solve and protect African American interests. There is no greater crisis that currently faces African American economically than its poverty. Its impact across all statistics like health outcomes, civic participation, business creation, student loan debt, and the list goes on and on. What exactly HBCUs and PBIs are doing about African American poverty in their cities and states is complicated to address. Many would say that simply graduating the number of African Americans with degrees is more than enough. That is until you realize the depth and impact our counterparts are using their higher educational institutions to do. MIT has an incubator that allows students to create companies while matriculating. Schools like Stanford have helped create Google, Harvard is the birthplace of Facebook, University of Texas and Texas A&M formed UTIMCO to create the nation’s largest endowment, and much more. PWIs banking with banks like J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, and others ensuring that European American owned banks have a deposit base that allows them to conduct the business of financially protecting their community and lending for European American homeownership and small business creation. HBCUs, not so much. It is also not just the HBCUs, but HBCU foundations, HBCU alumni associations, and other organizations that are supposed to be part of the vanguard/ecosystem of African American institutional development that pulls African American individuals, families, and communities away from poverty in conjunction with other African American institutions.
Poverty is already a complex and layered system and African American poverty is that on steroids. Each state and the HBCU/PBIs institutional system in it are part of the counterattack against African American poverty. Or at least we want them to be. For the alumni and administrations who see their institutional system as part of the empowerment and pulling of African America out of the throws of poverty it requires to know the actual depths of the situation.
Among the U.S. states with the highest poverty rates for 2022, HBCU/PBI states constituted 8 out of the top 10 for overall poverty.
ALABAMA
Overall Poverty (2020): 15.5%
Overall Poverty (2015): 19.3%
African American Poverty (2020): 23.5%
African American Poverty (2015): 31.1%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 24.4%
ARKANSAS
Overall Poverty (2020): 16.2%
Overall Poverty (2015): 18.9%
African American Poverty (2020): 27.1%*
African American Poverty (2015): 33.2%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 18.4%
CALIFORNIA
Overall Poverty (2020): 11.8%
Overall Poverty (2015): 16.5%
African American Poverty (2020): 19.0%*
African American Poverty (2015): 25.4%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 25.2%
DELAWARE
Overall Poverty (2020): 11.3%
Overall Poverty (2015): 12.5%
African American Poverty (2020): 17.3%
African American Poverty (2015): 19.9%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 13.1%
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.5%
Overall Poverty (2015): 17.7%
African American Poverty (2020): 21.6%*
African American Poverty (2015): 25.9%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 16.6%
FLORIDA
Overall Poverty (2020): 12.7%
Overall Poverty (2015): 16.5%
African American Poverty (2020): 19.8%*
African American Poverty (2015): 26.9%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 26.4%
GEORGIA
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.3%
Overall Poverty (2015): 18.3%
African American Poverty (2020): 18.8%
African American Poverty (2015): 27.0%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 30.1%
ILLINOIS
Overall Poverty (2020): 11.5%
Overall Poverty (2015): 14.4%
African American Poverty (2020): 24.2%*
African American Poverty (2015): 30.6%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 20.9%
KENTUCKY
Overall Poverty (2020): 16.3%
Overall Poverty (2015): 19.1%
African American Poverty (2020): 24.4%*
African American Poverty (2015): 32.4%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 24.7%
LOUISIANA
Overall Poverty (2020): 19.0%
Overall Poverty (2015): 19.8%
African American Poverty (2020): 29.4%*
African American Poverty (2015): 33.7%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 12.8%
MARYLAND
Overall Poverty (2020): 9.0%
Overall Poverty (2015): 10.1%
African American Poverty (2020): 12.9%
African American Poverty (2015): 14.6%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 11.6%
MASSACHUSETTS
Overall Poverty (2020): 9.4%
Overall Poverty (2015): 11.6%
African American Poverty (2020): 17.6%
African American Poverty (2015): 21.8%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 19.3%
MICHIGAN
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.0%
Overall Poverty (2015): 16.2%
African American Poverty (2020): 25.9%*
African American Poverty (2015): 33.0%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 21.5%
MISSISSIPPI
Overall Poverty (2020): 19.6%
Overall Poverty (2015): 21.5%
African American Poverty (2020): 30.7%
African American Poverty (2015): 34.3%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 10.5%
MISSOURI
Overall Poverty (2020): 12.9%
Overall Poverty (2015): 15.5%
African American Poverty (2020): 21.2%
African American Poverty (2015): 28.1%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 24.6%
NEW YORK
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.0%
Overall Poverty (2015): 15.9%
African American Poverty (2020): 20.0%
African American Poverty (2015): 23.2%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 13.8%
NORTH CAROLINA
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.6%
Overall Poverty (2015): 17.2%
African American Poverty (2020): 21.5%
African American Poverty (2015): 26.5%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 18.9%
OHIO
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.1%
Overall Poverty (2015): 15.8%
African American Poverty (2020): 27.3%*
African American Poverty (2015): 34.7%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 21.3%
OKLAHOMA
Overall Poverty (2020): 15.2%
Overall Poverty (2015): 16.6%
African American Poverty (2020): 28.2%*
African American Poverty (2015): 29.9%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 5.7%
PENNSYLVANIA
Overall Poverty (2020): 12.0%
Overall Poverty (2015): 13.6%
African American Poverty (2020): 24.9%
African American Poverty (2015): 29.5%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 15.6%
SOUTH CAROLINA
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.8%
Overall Poverty (2015): 16.8%
African American Poverty (2020): 23.1%*
African American Poverty (2015): 26.0%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 11.2%
TENNESSEE
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.9%
Overall Poverty (2015): 18.3%
African American Poverty (2020): 21.5%
African American Poverty (2015): 30.9%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 30.4%
TEXAS
Overall Poverty (2020): 13.6%
Overall Poverty (2015): 17.2%
African American Poverty (2020): 18.6%
African American Poverty (2015): 23.2%
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 19.8%
VIRGINIA
Overall Poverty (2020): 9.9%
Overall Poverty (2015): 11.8%
African American Poverty (2020): 16.4%*
African American Poverty (2015): 21.2%*
Change In African American Poverty 2015-2020: Decreased 22.6%
*Denotes that African Americans had the highest poverty rate among all groups during that period.
Analysis: African Americans were the only group to see an increase in their unemployment rate from August with a 40 basis point increase. Asian and Latino American both had decreases in their unemployment rate with a 30 basis point decrease for both groups from August.
AFRICAN AMERICAN UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GENDER & AGE
African American Men: 5.3%
African American Women: 5.3%
African American Teenagers: 18.8%
AFRICAN AMERICAN PARTICIPATION BY GENDER & AGE
African American Men: 67.5%
African American Women: 63.6%
African American Teenagers: 31.0%
Analysis: African American Men and Women both saw and increase and decrease in their unemployment rates by 60 and 20 basis points, respectively. African American Men saw a 20 basis point increase in their participation rate from August while African American Women had a 10 basis point decrease in their participation rate from August. African American Teenagers remain an extremely volatile group with their unemployment rate skyrocketing by 710 basis points, but also seeing their participation rate increase by 260 basis points. For African American Teenagers both unemployment rate and participation rate are at 5 month highs.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 970,000 more jobs than African American Men in October. This is a increase from 739,000 in September.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 150,000 jobs in October. African America lost 15,000 jobs in October. From CNN, “Last month’s job gains are the lowest since June, but there is a caveat: The October total reflects a 35,000-job decline in the manufacturing sector, specifically 33,200 jobs lost in the motor vehicles and parts industry. Those declines were largely attributed to strike activity.”
HBCU Money 