Tag Archives: jobs

African America’s August Jobs Report – 8.1%

Posted on September 5, 2016 by | Leave a comment

jobs

Overall Unemployment: 4.9% (4.9%)

African America Unemployment: 8.1% (8.4%)

Latino America Unemployment: 5.6% (5.4%)

European America Unemployment: 4.4% (4.3%)

Asian America Unemployment: 4.2% (3.8%)

Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: Overall unemployment was unchanged. All groups except African America saw a rise in their unemployment rate, who saw a 30 basis point decline in their unemployment rate. Asian, European, and Latino America saw rises of 40, 10, and 20 basis points, respectively.

African American Male Unemployment: 7.6% (8.2%)

African American Female Unemployment: 7.1% (7.3%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 26.1% (25.7%)

African American Male Participation: 67.3% (67.7%)

African American Female Participation: 62.2% (61.0%)

African American Teenage Participation: 31.6% (27.7%)

Analysis: African American men saw a 60 basis point decline in their unemployment, but also saw a 40 basis point decline in their participation rate. African American women saw a 20 basis point decline in their unemployment rate, but a 120 basis point increase in their participation rate. African American teenagers saw 40 basis point increase in their unemployment rate, but a 390 basis point increase in their participation rate.

CONCLUSION:The overall economy added 151 000 jobs in August. A significant drop the 255 000 in July. However, African America added an unprecedented 280 000 jobs in August after only 31 000 jobs in July. This marks only the second time since HBCU Money started reporting the African American Jobs Report that African America’s job growth has outpaced overall America. The overall jobs though did come in less than estimates of 180 000, which has many questioning whether or not the Federal Reserve and Chairwoman Janet Yellen will actually raise rates or continue to kick the can down the road.

African America currently needs 634 000 jobs to match America’s unemployment rate. A decrease of 46 000 from July.

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Unemployment Rate By HBCU State – June 2016

Posted on August 15, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2016-08-12 at 5.15.14 PM

STATES WITH RISING UNEMPLOYMENT: 7

STATES WITH DECLINING UNEMPLOYMENT: 12

STATES WITH UNCHANGED UNEMPLOYMENT: 5

LOWEST: VIRGINIA – 3.7%

HIGHEST – ILLINOIS & LOUISIANA – 6.2%

STATE – UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (PREVIOUS)*

ALABAMA –  6.0% (6.1%)

ARKANSAS – 3.8% (3.8%)

CALIFORNIA – 5.4% (5.2%)

DELAWARE – 4.2% (4.1%)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA – 6.0% (6.1%)

FLORIDA – 4.7% (4.7%)

GEORGIA – 5.1% (5.3%)

ILLINOIS – 6.2% (6.4%)

KENTUCKY – 5.0% (5.1%)

LOUISIANA – 6.2% (6.3%)

MARYLAND – 4.3% (4.5%)

MASSACHUSETTS – 4.2% (4.2%)

MICHIGAN – 4.6% (4.7%)

MISSISSIPPI – 5.9% (5.8%)

MISSOURI –  4.5% (4.3%)

NEW YORK – 4.7% (4.7%)

NORTH CAROLINA – 4.9% (5.1%)

OHIO – 5.0% (5.1%)

OKLAHOMA – 4.8% (4.7%)

PENNSYLVANIA – 5.6% (5.5%)

SOUTH CAROLINA – 5.4% (5.6%)

TENNESSEE – 4.1% (4.1%)

TEXAS – 4.5% (4.4%)

VIRGINIA – 3.7% (3.8%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

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Unemployment Rate By HBCU State – April 2016

Posted on June 7, 2016 by | Leave a comment

Screen Shot 2016-06-07 at 5.40.56 PM

STATES WITH RISING UNEMPLOYMENT: 9

STATES WITH DECLINING UNEMPLOYMENT: 13

STATES WITH UNCHANGED UNEMPLOYMENT: 2

LOWEST: ARKANSAS & VIRGINIA – 3.9%

HIGHEST – ILLINOIS – 6.6%

STATE – UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (PREVIOUS)*

ALABAMA –  6.1% (6.2%)

ARKANSAS – 3.9% (4.0%)

CALIFORNIA – 5.3% (5.4%)

DELAWARE – 4.2% (4.4%)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA – 6.4% (6.5%)

FLORIDA – 4.8% (4.9%)

GEORGIA – 5.5% (5.5%)

ILLINOIS – 6.6% (6.5%)

KENTUCKY – 5.3% (5.6%)

LOUISIANA – 6.3% (6.1%)

MARYLAND – 4.6% (4.7%)

MASSACHUSETTS – 4.2% (4.4%)

MICHIGAN – 4.8% (4.8%)

MISSISSIPPI – 6.0% (6.3%)

MISSOURI –  4.3% (4.2%)

NEW YORK – 4.9% (4.8%)

NORTH CAROLINA – 5.4% (5.5%)

OHIO – 5.2% (5.1%)

OKLAHOMA – 4.5% (4.4%)

PENNSYLVANIA – 5.3% (4.9%)

SOUTH CAROLINA – 5.8% (5.7%)

TENNESSEE – 4.3% (4.5%)

TEXAS – 4.4% (4.3%)

VIRGINIA – 3.9% (4.0%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

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African America’s May Jobs Report – 8.2%

Posted on June 6, 2016 by | Leave a comment

jobs

Overall Unemployment: 4.7% (5.0%)

African America Unemployment: 8.2% (8.8%)

Latino America Unemployment: 5.6% (6.1%)

European America Unemployment: 4.1% (4.3%)

Asian America Unemployment: 4.1% (3.8%)

Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: Overall unemployment drops 30 basis points. All groups saw a drop in their unemployment rate, except for Asian America who saw a 30 basis point increase. African America led the way with the largest decrease of 60 basis points, followed by Latino America’s 50 basis points, and European America’s 20 basis points.

African American Male Unemployment: 7.6% (9.5%)

African American Female Unemployment: 7.4% (6.9%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 27.1% (26.0%)

African American Male Participation: 67.1% (68.1%)

African American Female Participation: 61.0% (60.2%)

African American Teenage Participation: 28.7% (29.2%)

Analysis:African American men had a decrease of 190 basis points in their unemployment rate, but also experienced a 100 basis point drop in their participation rate. African American women had an increase of 50 basis points in their unemployment rate, but an 80 basis point increase in their participation rate. African American teenagers had an increase of 110 basis points in their unemployment rate, but experienced a 50 basis point drop.

CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 38 000 jobs in May. Repeat, the United States economy added a net of only 38 000 jobs in May. African America added 122 000 jobs in May, an unprecedented moment where African America job growth outpaced the country. The expected job growth for the overall economy was supposed to be 162 000 jobs. This number may put an absolute halt to the Federal Reserve’s hinted expectation of a rate hike in June or July, which many investors have baked into the market. Since HBCU Money inception of the African American Jobs Report never has African America added more jobs than the overall economy. Now that it has, what exactly might this tell us? It may tell us that since African America has the lowest median income of any group of workers, companies are continuing to a lower-skilled workforce in more and more areas. Despite the additional jobs, this number only gets African America back to where it was five months ago when it began a precipitous job decline trend, this obviously putting an abrupt halt to it. It is hard to imagine a scenario where this remains a forward trend, but we will have to wait to see if this month proves to be an outlier all around or perhaps a pivot for African America’s economy, and for once when others are catching a cold, we do not catch pneumonia.

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African America’s April Jobs Report – 8.8%

Posted on May 9, 2016 by | Leave a comment

jobs

Overall Unemployment: 5.0% (5.0%)

African America Unemployment: 8.8% (9.0%)

Latino America Unemployment: 6.1% (5.6%)

European America Unemployment: 4.3% (4.3%)

Asian America Unemployment: 3.8% (4.0%)

Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: Overall unemployment rose slightly in the month of April from the previous month. African and Asian American both saw 20 basis point declines.  European America was the only group to go unchanged. Lastly, Latino America has an uptick of 50 basis points in their unemployment rate.

African American Male Unemployment: 9.5% (8.7%)

African American Female Unemployment: 6.9% (8.0%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 26.0% (25.3%)

African American Male Participation: 68.1% (67.2%)

African American Female Participation: 60.2% (61.5%)

African American Teenage Participation: 29.2% (30.5%)

Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis:African American males had a 80 basis point increase in their unemployment rate and a 90 basis point increase in their participation rate. African American females had a 110 basis point decrease in their unemployment rate and a 130 basis point decrease in their participation rate. African American teenagers unemployment rate increased 70 basis points and participation rate experienced a decrease of 130 basis points.

CONCLUSION: The overall economy added 160 000 jobs in April. African America lost 59 000 jobs in April, the second consecutive decrease in the past five months. The African American labor force also pulled back with a decline of almost 100 000 for a second consecutive month. Nervously, the participation rate is at its lowest over the past five months remains with a very sharp decline of 40 basis points. A divergence from a rate that has been fairly steady as it goes the past five months. There are signs that fresh economic thunderstorms are settling in over the African American economy. The Federal Reserve continues to suppress interest rates, which while keeping the stock market humming along (barely) is also keeping lending tight. The latter being a situation that prevents many of America’s small businesses from hiring and even more potential businesses from even getting off of the ground. If banks can not make enough money off making a loan to a risky small business just opening its doors, then better to park the cash in Treasuries and wait out the interest rate conundrum. Meanwhile, the American economy continues to die a paper cut death. African America’s economy just lost another bank making lending for small businesses and therefore job creation within the community an even higher hurdle to climb, as if jumping over Mount Olympus with a broken leg was not hard enough. Maybe the winds will change, but until the Federal Reserve decides to take the economy off of the low interest rate medicine, then there is very little hope of the economy breaking out into a real sprint. Currently, the downside looks a lot more probable than the upside.

African American needs an increase of 742 000 jobs to match the country’s unemployment rate – a decrease of 37 000 jobs from the previous month.

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