Filed under: Personal Finance, News
According to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, black unemployment dropped by .4 percentage points, from 16.1 percent to 15.7 percent. The number is still nearly double that of white unemployment, which lies at 8.8 percent.
Black male unemployment actually saw the steepest decline among all race/gender groups, dropping from 17.6 percent to 16.3 percent. The number is still 83 percent higher than white male unemployment (which is 8.9 percent).
Black women saw a slight increase in their unemployment rate, which went from 12.6 percent to 12.7 percent. The unemployment numbers for black women are 74 percent higher than those for white females (at 7.3 percent, lower than any other group in America).
Black teens saw mild relief from their unemployment crisis, but not very much. The unemployment rate for black teenagers dropped from 49 percent to 48 percent, but still remains more than double that of white teens (23.6 percent).
The numbers on black unemployment at least appear to be holding steady, but can be misleading due to the fact that quite a few Americans have simply stopped looking for work. Also, improvements in the black unemployment numbers must be balanced against the reality that black Americans are consistently unemployed at a rate that is nearly double that of the white American population. As I mentioned in my open letter to President Obama, this state of affairs cannot be allowed to exist much longer.
As the face of our government has changed and Republicans are now in control of the House of Representatives, there must be consistent and progressive grassroots efforts to deal with the black unemployment crisis. We should never get to the point that we believe that improving a horrible situation is as good as creating an equitable situation. Therefore, the push toward developing task forces and other initiatives to address wealth and unemployment gaps must surely continue.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action Resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.