Analysis: European Americans’ unemployment rate was unchanged from July. Asian Americans decreased 30 basis points and Latino Americans increased 30 basis points from July, respectively. African America’s unemployment rate increased by 30 basis points from July.
AFRICAN AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT REVIEW
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN:
Unemployment Rate – 7.1%
Participation Rate – 69.8%
Employed – 9,893,000
Unemployed – 753,000
African American Men (AAM) saw a increase in their unemployment rate by 10 basis points in August. The group had an increase in their participation rate in August by 190 basis points, there highest participation rate in the past five months. African American Men gained 270,000 jobs in August and saw their number of unemployed increase by 30,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN:
Unemployment Rate – 6.7%
Participation Rate – 61.4%
Employed – 10,260,000
Unemployed – 739,000
African American Women saw a increase in their unemployment rate by 40 basis points in August. The group increased their participation rate in August by 30 basis points. African American Women gained 13,000 jobs in August and saw their number of unemployed increase by 45,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS:
Unemployment Rate – 24.8%
Participation Rate – 29.3%
Employed – 590,000
Unemployed – 195,000
African American Teenagers unemployment rate increased by 310 basis points. The group saw their participation rate increased by 10 basis points in August. African American Teenagers lost 24,000 jobs in August and saw their number of unemployed also increase 25,000.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 367,000 more jobs than African American Men in August. This is an decrease from 624,000 in July.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 22,000 jobs in August while African America added 260,000 jobs. From Reuters,”The warning bell that rang in the labor market a month ago just got louder,” Olu Sonola, head of U.S. economic research at Fitch Ratings in New York, said in reference to the U.S. labor market. “A weaker-than-expected jobs report all but seals a 25-basis-point rate cut later this month.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell had already reinforced rate cut speculation with an unexpectedly dovish speech at last month’s Fed symposium in Jackson Hole.”
Analysis: European Americans’ unemployment rate increased 10 basis points. Asian Americans increased 40 basis points and Latino Americans increased 20 basis points from June, respectively. African America’s unemployment rate increased by 40 basis points from June.
AFRICAN AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT REVIEW
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN:
Unemployment Rate – 7.0%
Participation Rate – 67.9%
Employed – 9,623,000
Unemployed – 723,000
African American Men (AAM) saw a increase in their unemployment rate by 10 basis points in July. The group had a precipitous drop in their participation rate in July by 90 basis points. African American Men lost 129,000 jobs in July and saw their number of unemployed increase by 2,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN:
Unemployment Rate – 6.3%
Participation Rate – 61.1%
Employed – 10,247,000
Unemployed – 694,000
African American Women saw a increase in their unemployment rate by 50 basis points in July. The group increased their participation rate in July by 20 basis points. African American Women lost 1,000 jobs in July and saw their number of unemployed increase by 60,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS:
Unemployment Rate – 21.7%
Participation Rate – 29.2%
Employed – 614,000
Unemployed – 170,000
African American Teenagers unemployment rate increased by 250 basis points. The group saw their participation rate decreased by 80 basis points in July. African American Teenagers added 37,000 jobs in July and saw their number of unemployed also increase 15,000.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 624,000 more jobs than African American Men in July. This is an increase from 496,000 in June.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 73,000 jobs in July while African America lost 166,000 jobs. From CNBC, “This is a gamechanger jobs report,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “The labor market is deteriorating quickly.” The weak report, including the dramatic revisions, could provide incentive for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates when it next meets in September. Following the report, futures traders raised the odds of a cut at the meeting to 75.5%, up from 40% on Thursday, according to CME Group data.”
Analysis: European Americans’ unemployment rate has remained steady for four straight months with virtually no change in unemployment rate. Asian Americans decreased 10 basis points and Latino Americans decreased 30 basis points from May, respectively. African America’s unemployment rate increased by 80 basis points from May.
AFRICAN AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT REVIEW
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN:
Unemployment Rate – 6.9%
Participation Rate – 68.8%
Employed – 9,752,000
Unemployed – 721,000
African American Men (AAM) saw a increase in their unemployment rate by 170 basis points in June. The group had a mild rebound in their participation rate in June by 30 basis points. African American Men lost 117,000 jobs in June and saw their number of unemployed increase by 181,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN:
Unemployment Rate – 5.8%
Participation Rate – 60.9%
Employed – 10,248,000
Unemployed – 634,000
African American Women saw a decrease in their unemployment rate by 40 basis points in June. The group decreased their participation rate in June by 80 basis points. African American Women lost 84,000 jobs in June and saw their number of unemployed decrease by 50,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS:
Unemployment Rate – 19.2%
Participation Rate – 30.0%
Employed – 651,000
Unemployed – 155,000
African American Teenagers unemployment rate increased by 480 basis points. The group saw their participation rate increased by 210 basis points in June. African American Teenagers added 10,000 jobs in May and saw their number of unemployed also decrease 41,000.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 496,000 more jobs than African American Men in June. This is an increase from 463,000 in May.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 147,000 jobs in June while African America lost 193,000 jobs. From CNN, “It is becoming harder for Americans to find work: The average duration of unemployment rose from 21.8 weeks to 23 weeks, and the share of unemployed workers who have been out of a job for 27 weeks or longer rose to 23.3%, edging closer to a three-year high. Trump’s tariffs — and the dizzying back and forth on implementing them and pausing them — has caused many businesses to stall major decision-making or spending, including hiring.”
Analysis: European Americans’ unemployment rate has remained steady for four straight months with virtually no change in unemployment rate. Asian Americans increased 60 basis points and Latino Americans decreased 10 basis points from April, respectively. African America’s unemployment rate decreased by 30 basis points from April. Unemployment rates across all groups seem to be leveling off despite
AFRICAN AMERICAN EMPLOYMENT REVIEW
AFRICAN AMERICAN MEN:
Unemployment Rate – 5.2%
Participation Rate – 68.5%
Employed – 9,869,000
Unemployed – 540,000
African American Men (AAM) saw a decrease in their unemployment rate by 40 basis points in May. The group had a noticeable decrease in their participation rate in May by 70 basis points. African American Men lost 48,000 jobs in May and saw their number of unemployed drop by 47,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN:
Unemployment Rate – 6.2%
Participation Rate – 61.7%
Employed – 10,332,000
Unemployed – 684,000
African American Women saw an increase in their unemployment rate by 10 basis points in May. The group increased their participation rate in May by 50 basis points. African American Women added 72,000 jobs in May and saw their number of unemployed increase by 21,000.
AFRICAN AMERICAN TEENAGERS:
Unemployment Rate – 14.4%
Participation Rate – 27.9%
Employed – 641,000
Unemployed – 108,000
African American Teenagers unemployment rate decreased by 520 basis points. The group saw their participation rate decreased by 40 basis points in May. African American Teenagers added 31,000 jobs in May and saw their number of unemployed also decrease 41,000.
African American Men-Women Job Gap: African American Women currently have 463,000 more jobs than African American Men in May. This is an increase from 344,000 in April.
CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 139,000 jobs in May while African America added 56,000 jobs. From CNBC, “Nearly half the job growth came from health care, which added 62,000, even higher than its average gain of 44,000 over the past year. Leisure and hospitality contributed 48,000 while social assistance added 16,000. On the downside, government lost 22,000 jobs as efforts to cull the federal workforce by President Donald Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency began to show an impact.”
“Dear Young Black Males… Always remember to hold your head up high, and NEVER doubt who you are. Believe in yourself SO much that other people’s negative words, opinions, and energy won’t discourage or hinder you.” – Stephanie Lahart
African Americans continue to be the only group where the women outnumber the men in terms of employment. The systemic reasons for this abound and not particularly the focus in this piece, but one of those areas is certainly educational obtainment. Whereas African American girls are in large part taught to focus on mental and academic achievement as a means of success, African American boys are taught to focus on physical and athletic achievement as a means of success. The two most notable gaps are at the Associate’s degree and Doctor’s degree levels where there is a difference of 350 basis points and 390 basis points, respectively. While it would be nice to see more African American young men getting Bachelor’s degrees, from an economic reality, simply getting more of them with an Associate’s is cheaper and faster in terms of return on investment for the community.
Enter the 10 HBCUs that are community or technical colleges along with UDC who has community college division while still being a 4-year institution. This collection of HBCUs represents a network of community and technical colleges dedicated to providing accessible, affordable education and workforce development opportunities. Focused on serving African American communities, these institutions offer associate degrees, certificates, and vocational training programs. There is also the opportunity to create a pipeline to four-year HBCUs or direct entry into the workforce. They emphasize community enrichment, economic mobility, and leadership development, often incorporating faith-based or mission-driven values. Collectively, they play a vital role in empowering individuals and strengthening the communities they serve.
As of 2021-2022 according to NCES, there is an approximately 50,000 Associate’s degree gap between African American Women and Men (Table Below) with women obtaining almost 85,000 Associate degrees annually and men obtaining just over 37,000 Associate degrees annually. The major obstacle to these 10 HBCUs closing the gap is what ails most systemic issues facing African America – finances. These 10 HBCUs have an average tuition cost of $6,500 and median tuition cost of $5,300. But in order cost of attendance is a far more accurate because it includes the ability to pay for residence be it on-campus or off-campus, meal plans, books, and other necessities of educational obtainment. The average and median for that related to these 10 HBCUs is approximately $20,000 which is inclusive of the tuition and fee cost. This cost of attendance is due to both the low cost of tuition at two-year institutions in general and these HBCUs being located in affordable towns as a whole. However, it maybe a lot to ask if the goal is to truly incentivize enough African American Men to take two years if they were not intending to and by the numbers many clearly are not intending to go to college even for an Associate’s degree without a cherry on top. Simply ensuring they have full tuition and room/board is enticing, but it is likely not enough. If we look at this as a salary, then paying African American Men $20,000 a year to be students is probably not going to cut it. However, pushing that number to say $30,000 a year with a disposable income of $10,000 per year could be enough to bring many into the fray.
Here is the math of getting to $30 billion. Assuming our endowment for this program can generate 5% annually, then it would take $600,000 in principal to generate the $30,000 necessary per student. That is $600,000 times the 50,000 gap we need to close annually or $30 billion. Enough to generate $1.5 billion in interest. At current, there are no African American institutions that are either non-profit or for-profit valued at $30 billion. Howard University has the largest African American non-profit endowment and it is just under $1 billion. World Wide Technology is the most valuable for-profit firm at $20 billion and its African American ownership in the firm at 59 percent makes his stake worth approximately $12 billion.
There is even an argument that should this miraculous endowment appear if it should be spent on African American men ages 18-40 or if it should be focused on African American boys where you could provide supplemental education and academic investment at a far earlier age where you would need to spend a fraction of the $30,000 to get impactful long-term results. While there is a firm argument for this, my answer is resoundingly no. It should and would need to be spent on the 18-40 year old age group. The reason why is simple. African American Women need help now. The gap that has existed for sometime now has caused a crisis in the community with African American women being unable to find African American men that are suitable partners, the overweight responsibility of economic burden they carry, and much more. The closing of the gap is worth $7,700 in increased earnings per African American man who upgrades from a high school diploma to an Associate’s degree or $385 million annually if simply brought in balance with the number of Associate’s that African American Women earn.
The burning question of course is where we get $30 billion in assets from that can produce $1.5 billion annually (a 5 percent return). Unless someone is secretly hiding 300,000 bitcoins, they bought for $0.01 many years ago that are now worth $30 billion there may be no real solid answers. Time is of the essence so the notion that we are going to slow roll our way there as we do with most everything else financially is a nonstarter and just more of the same issues. Government funding is also almost certainly not an option given that regardless of political party very little has been done to rectify systemic issues that face African America. One party would like to give us nothing despite the fact that we pay into the tax system and the other party gives us symbolic and lip service. For context, there are only 5 university endowments that are greater than $30 billion.
In the end, the truth of the matter is this will not be solved by a single endowment or a single organization. However, $30 billion in a collective effort across multiple organizations coordinating with this goal may in fact be possible and pragmatic. With almost $2 trillion in buying power in theory the resources are there – sort of. Buying power can be very misleading because it does not actually speak to disposable income of the African American community. The money that is leftover after the bills are paid. Much of African America’s $2 trillion has very little leftover once you account for needs and necessities of African American households. This actually speaks quite a bit to African America’s buying power only account for almost 11 percent of America’s $18.5 trillion in buying power, but accounting for almost 14.5 percent of the American population. The $2 trillion should be closer to $2.7 trillion. That is $700 billion essentially “missing” from the African American households. Needless to say, it would a lot easier to find that $30 billion there.
A collective and strategic effort is necessary to bridge the Associate’s degree gap between African American men and women. While a $30 billion endowment seems daunting, the solution lies not in a single source of funding but rather in a coordinated approach involving multiple organizations, institutions, and innovative financial strategies. Leveraging partnerships with HBCUs, African American financial institutions, and philanthropic networks can help mobilize the resources needed to generate meaningful change. Furthermore, targeted outreach to influential individuals, businesses, and community leaders can catalyze fundraising efforts.
The focus must remain on providing African American men with the financial support necessary to pursue educational opportunities. By directly investing in their economic advancement, the ripple effect will extend beyond individuals to families and communities. The $385 million annual increase in earnings resulting from closing the Associate’s degree gap underscores the profound economic impact of this initiative. Equally important, this investment addresses the broader social and relational imbalances that have burdened African American women for decades.
Achieving this ambitious goal will require innovative thinking, sustained advocacy, and bold financial commitment. However, with collaboration and purpose, empowering African American men through education can yield lasting benefits for the entire community, fostering stability, opportunity, and generational wealth.
HBCU Money 