June 1, 2016 The Skanner CAREERS EDITION Page 3
CAREERS
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Senior Washing-
ton Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)
– The Black unemploy-
ment rate tumbled to
9.1 percent in July, the
lowest rate for Black
workers in seven years,
according to the latest
jobs report from the U.S.
Labor Department.
Even though the Black
jobless rate has slowly
ticked down to 2008 lev-
els, some economists ex-
pressed concerns about
the labor force participa-
tion rate, the measure of
people who are employed
or looking for jobs.
The Black labor force
participation rate de-
creased from 61.7 percent
in June to 61.5 percent in
July, which could indi-
cate that the unemploy-
ment rate fell because
some people simply gave
up looking for work.
By comparison, the
White unemployment
rate and the labor force
participation rate re-
mained unchanged from
June levels, 4.6 percent
and 62.8 percent, respec-
tively.
Valerie Wilson, an
economist at the Eco-
nomic Policy Institute, a
Washington, D.C. based
think tank focused on
low- and middle-income
families, found that Ten-
nessee had the lowest
Black jobless rate (6.9
percent) in the second
quarter of 2015, which
was almost the same as
the highest White unem-
ployment rate (7 percent
in West Virginia).
Wilson also reported
“
highest Black unemploy-
ment rates in the nation
before the recession.
“African
Americans
are still unemployed at
a higher rate than their
white counterparts in
almost every state,” Wil-
son said.
“We need policies that
look beyond simply re-
ducing unemployment
to pre-recession levels as
an end goal.”
not only saw a slight in-
crease in their month-
over-month jobless rate
as it edged up from 7.9
percent June to 8 per-
cent in July, their labor
force participation rate
also increased from 62
percent to 62.1 percent,
which could signal that
Black women are enter-
ing the labor force and
inding work.
In a statement about
African Americans are still unemployed at a
higher rate than their white counterparts in
almost every state
that the African Amer-
ican
unemployment
rate “was at or below its
pre-recession level in
eight states”: Michigan,
Indian, Ohio, Tennessee,
Mississippi, Texas, Illi-
nois, and Missouri.
In the press release
on her analysis of state
unemployment rates by
race and ethnicity, Wil-
son said that even though
the Black unemploy-
ment rate has returned
to pre-recession levels
in those eight states, the
states that are seeing im-
provements, with the ex-
ception of Texas, had the
The national unem-
ployment rate was 5.3
percent and 215,000 jobs
were created in July.
Economic indicators
for Black male workers
over 20 years old fol-
lowed the same pattern
as Black workers in gen-
eral.
The Black male unem-
ployment rate plunged
to 8.8 percent from 9.5
percent the year before,
but the participation
rate also decreased from
67.6 percent in June to 67
percent in July.
On the other hand,
Black female workers
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the jobs report, Rep. Rob-
ert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-
Va.) said that the report
showed that economy is
still improving, growing
and heading in the right
direction.
“With the sixty-ith
consecutive
month
of private sector job
growth, and the unem-
ployment rate holding at
5.3 percent, our nation
continues to recover
from the 2008 economic
recession,” said Scott.
He also said, “While
this is excellent news,
our eforts to rebuild our
economy are not com-
FREDDIE ALLEN/NNPA
Black Unemployment Dips to 7-Year Low
Rep. Bobby Scott was encouraged by new jobless igures.
plete until every person
who wants a job is able to
ind a stable one.”
Connie Razza, the direc-
tor of Strategic Research
for the Center for Popu-
lar Democracy (CPD), a
group focused on racial
justice that describes it-
self as “pro-worker” and
“pro-immigrant,”
said
that the latest job num-
bers show that lat wages
and a sluggish recovery
continue to threaten the
livelihood of working
families.
“Federal Reserve oi-
cials must look beyond
the topline employment
igures to determine
whether the economy
has truly recovered,” said
Razza in a statement.
“Even the state with the
lowest rate of Black un-
employment still has a
rate equivalent to the
state with the high-
est White unemploy-
ment rate.”
Razza continued: “With
Black families still out of
work and wage growth
nowhere to be found, the
economy is simply not
ready for the Fed to slow
it down.”
She warned the Federal
Reserve against raising
interest rates in 2015.
“While there are re-
ports of the Fed staf
suggesting one interest
rate hike to 0.35 percent
in the fourth quarter,
compared to the [Federal
Open Market Committee]
forecasts of two hikes in
the year achieving 0.65
percent, the Fed Up cam-
paign remains convinced
that the only humane, in-
clusive, and economical-
ly sound approach from
the Fed would be to write
of increasing interest
rates for 2015, and in-
stead to commit to wage
targeting,” said Razza.
