USA: Large Jump in African American Unemployment Rate
NOVANEWS
Large Jump in African American Unemployment Rate Brings It Back to Year-Ago Level
By Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the African American unemployment rate jumped 0.9 percentage points in January to 7.7 percent, putting it just a hair under the 7.8 percent rate of January, 2017. This was associated with a 0.6 percentage point drop in the employment rate. Typically the African American unemployment rate is twice the white unemployment rate. However, with the white rate dropping to 3.5 percent, it is now substantially higher.
This is disappointing since the 6.8 percent rate in December was the lowest on record. The increase for men was 0.9 percentage points to 7.5 percent. For women the increase was 0.8 percent...