Tag Archives: unemployment rate

Overall Unemployment: 7.6% (7.6%)

African America Unemployment: 13.7% (13.5%)

Latino America Unemployment: 9.1% (9.1%)

European America Unemployment: 6.7% (6.7%)

Asian America Unemployment: 5.0% (4.3%)

Analysis: The unemployment rates overall remains unchanged. Two of the four diaspora groups remain unchanged while the other two saw upticks. Asian America saw a significant uptick but remains the group with the lowest unemployment. African America remains the only group with a double digit unemployment rate.

African American Male Unemployment: 13.0% (13.5%)

African American Female Unemployment: 12.0% (11.2%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 43.6% (42.6%)

African American Male Participation: 67.1% (67.9%)

African American Female Participation: 62.3% (62.5%)

African American Teenage Participation: 28.1% (28.0%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: African American women and teenagers saw significant upticks in their unemployment rate while the unemployment rate for men saw a moderate decrease. Participation rate for teenagers remain virtually unchanged while men and women both saw decreases. The men saw a substantial drop in their participation rate.

Conclusion: The overall economy added 195 000 jobs in the month of June. African America shows a loss of 112 000 jobs for the month of June. A significant loss after four straight months of positive job growth. The African American labor force shrunk by almost 100 000 and most disturbing is the participation rate as it dropped to its second lowest rate in the past five months. A sign that fatigue is setting in and the desire to find employment is waning. African American women’s participation rate has held steady over the past five months while the men have shown an alarming drop. The continued crisis of African American teenagers proves to be worsening as the group hit a new high again for its unemployment rate which still stands at the third highest in the developed world. It appears the sequester is setting in and unemployment fatigue is starting to take a turn for the negative in the African American community.

Source: Department of Labor

Overall Unemployment: 7.6% (7.7%)

African America Unemployment: 13.3% (13.8%)

Latino America Unemployment: 9.2% (9.6%)

European America Unemployment: 6.7% (6.8%)

Asian America Unemployment: 5.0% (6.1%)

Analysis: Overall unemployment rate is down. Every group saw a decline in their unemployment rate led by Asian America who saw the largest decline. African America continues to be the only group with double digit unemployment. The American participation rate is the lowest since 1979.

African American Male Unemployment: 12.7% (12.9%)

African American Female Unemployment: 12.2% (12.5%)

African American Teenage Unemployment: 33.8% (43.1%)

African American Male Participation: 68.1% (68.2%)

African American Female Participation: 61.3% (62.2%)

African American Teenage Participation: 27.6% (27.4%)

*Previous month in parentheses.

Analysis: All groups saw declines in their unemployment rates. The African American teenage group led the way with one of the most significant drops in recent memory in its unemployment rate. Participation rates saw drops for both men and women while the teenagers saw a slight uptick. African American women saw a significant drop in their participation rate.

Conclusion: America overall added only 88 000 jobs in the month of March, the lowest job creation since June of 2012. African America netted 9 000 new jobs or 10.2 percent of new jobs. African American men and teenagers netted 18 000 and 68 000 new jobs, respectively. Unfortunately, African American women experienced a loss of 76 000 jobs. The women’s loss is by far the most problematic for African American household financial stability since they head the majority of African American households. The increase in teenage unemployment while serving as a hedge in households also means African American households are bringing in dramatically less as teenagers are almost always working low wage jobs. As the federal sequester continues to take hold we should continue to expect abysmal employment numbers. African America’s continued public employment dependence will continue to be highlighted as long as the federal log jam in Washington D.C. continues and agencies have to make cuts and furloughs. The most damaging number reported is the decrease in the African American labor force which dropped by 115 000 and served as the primary driver in the decreased unemployment rate. After four months of increased African American labor force this could be an early sign that employment search fatigue could be setting in.