Overall Unemployment: 4.8% (4.7%)
African America Unemployment: 7.7% (7.8%)
Latino America Unemployment: 5.9% (5.9%)
European America Unemployment: 4.3% (4.3%)
Asian America Unemployment: 3.7% (2.6%)
Previous month in parentheses.
Analysis: Overall unemployment rose 10 basis points. African America was the only decline in unemployment rate with a decrease of 10 basis points. Asian America saw the largest increase with a rise of 110 basis points European and Latino America both went unchanged.
African American Male Unemployment: 7.6% (7.3%)
African American Female Unemployment: 6.7% (6.8%)
African American Teenage Unemployment: 26.9% (25.7%)
African American Male Participation: 68.1% (67.7%)
African American Female Participation: 62.6% (62.3%)
African American Teenage Participation: 30.4% (27.6%)
Analysis: African American men saw a 30 basis point increase in their unemployment and 40 basis point increase in their participation rate. African American women saw a 10 basis point decrease in their unemployment rate and 30 basis point increase in their participation rate. African American teenagers saw a 120 basis point increase in their unemployment rate and a 280 basis point increase in their participation rate.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 227 000 jobs in January. A noticeable difference from the 156 000 in December. African America added a sizzling 153 000 jobs in January to begin the year. The official last jobs report for the Obama administration and the first jobs report of the Trump administration. For the Trump administration, this jobs report could largely signal how the business community feels about the incoming presidency and the momentum since the election. It appears that yes, even African America feels optimistic. A real surprise if you take the pulse of social media, but social media can often be a contradictory bubble highlighting people’s social values and not necessarily their economic needs or perceptions. In all fairness, the inertia in the fundamentals of the economy are driving much of this and regardless of who was going to be president there appears to be a bit more room to run in economic growth. A fact that could lead to a record breaking 20 million African Americans going into the labor force if the trend holds up in February.
African America currently needs 662 000 jobs to match America’s unemployment rate. An increase of 43 000 jobs from December.
HBCU Money 