Good and bad news in black employment stats

Good and bad news in black employment stats

27 August, 2013


The Black unemployment rate in July dipped to 12.6 percent, its lowest level since January 2009 according to the US Bureau of Labor .

The BLS also reported that since August 2012 the unemployment rate for adult black men (those older than 20) remains below its 14.4 percent level in January 2009 and was reported at 12.5 percent in July. More importantly, the share of black men holding jobs continues to rebound from its record low of 56.5 percent in 2011 to 59.2 percent, almost equal its level of 60.4 percent in January 2009. That was the good news.

The bad news was that the unemployment rate for adult black women (those older than 20) remained above its January 2009 level (though it did fall to 10.5 percent) and the share of adult black women holding jobs, at 55.5 percent, is not showing much movement to return to its January 2009 level of 57.9 percent. Since more than half the black workforce is female, it means the labor market news was mixed at best.

For complete post, visit My Daily Career News

Related posts