June 7, 2017 The Skanner CAREERS EDITION Page 3
Job Prospects Mixed for Black
Workers Last Month
CAREERS
Oregon’s Unemployment Rate
Reaches Record Low 3.7 Percent
Oregon Employment Department
By Freddie Allen
NNPA Newswire
O
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PHOTO BY FLAZINGO (CC BY-SA 2.0)
E
ven though Black
women lost ground in
the labor market last
month, the unemploy-
ment rate for Black work-
ers dipped below 8 percent
for the first time since Jan-
uary 2017, according to the
latest jobs report from the
Labor Department.
Not only did the unem-
ployment (UE) rate for
Black workers improve, the
labor force participation
rate (LFPR), which is the
share of people in the labor
market who have jobs or
who are looking for work,
also moved in a positive
direction. The labor force
participation rate for Black
workers increased from
62.3 percent in March to
62.5 percent in April. The
employment-population
ratio (E-POP), or the share
of the population with jobs,
climbed a few notches from
The unemployment rate for Black workers dipped below 8 percent for the
first time since January 2017, according to the latest jobs report from the
Labor Department.
third month in a row, the
labor force rate for Black
working women was flat at
(62.7 percent). The E-POP
took a few steps back from
the 58.6 percent mark set
in March to 58.4 percent in
April. The unemployment
rate for Black women in-
creased from 6.6 percent to
6.9 percent in April.
The unemployment rate for
Black workers dipped below 8
percent for the first time since
January 2017, according to the
latest jobs report from the La-
bor Department.
57.3 percent to 57.6 percent
in April.
The jobless rate for White
workers decreased from
3.9 percent in March to 3.8
percent in April, and so
did the labor force partici-
pation rate. The E-POP for
White workers was flat.
April was a good month
for Black men over 20
years-old; the three main
indicators (UE, LFPR and
E-POP) all moved in pos-
itive directions. The un-
employment rate for that
group improved from 8.2
percent in March to 7.3 per-
cent last month.
Meanwhile, White, work-
ing men over 20 years-
old, who looked for jobs
in April, found them, for
the most part. The labor
force participation rate for
White men was flat at 71.9
percent, but the employ-
ment-population ratio for
that group increased from
69.2 percent in March to
69.4 percent in April. The
unemployment rate for
White men improved from
3.6 percent in March to 3.4
percent in April.
White working women
over 20 years-old, took loss-
es in two out of the three
key market indicators last
month and their unemploy-
ment rate was flat (3.5 per-
cent), likely due to White
women exiting the labor
market.
April’s jobs report was a
tough one for Black women
over 20 years-old. For the
Economists say that the
measures of labor market
indicators for minority
subgroups are more prone
to wild swings, because
the survey sample sizes
are smaller for minority
workers compared to the
sample size for White
workers. Economists
also say that the public
shouldn’t make much
out of a single job re-
port and should in-
stead watch for trends.
One of those trends,
was an increase in “an-
nual work hours for
all workers, especial-
ly low-wage African
American
workers
and women,” from
1979 to 2015, according
to the Economic Policy
Institute (EPI), a think
tank focused on the
needs of low- and mid-
dle-income workers.
In a recent post on
EPI’s website, Valerie
Rawlston Wilson, the
director of the Pro-
gram on Race, Ethnic-
ity, and the Economy
(PREE) for the think
tank, noted that work-
ing moms were “signif-
icant contributors to
this trend.” More than
half of all Black female
workers are moms
compared to roughly
44 percent of White
female workers.
“African American
working moms are
uniquely central to the
economic well-being of
their families,” wrote Wil-
son. “To begin with, more
than two-thirds of all Af-
rican American working
mothers are single moms,
making them the primary,
if not sole, economic pro-
viders for their families. By
comparison, 29.6 percent
of white working mothers
and 47.9 percent of Hispan-
ic working mothers are sin-
gle.”
Black married women
with children also worked
more hours per year and
earned less money per
hour than White married
women with children, ac-
cording to EPI.
“What’s
behind
this
greater attachment to the
labor force? For African
American women, it may
have to do with higher rates
of Black unemployment
and racial pay and wealth
See JOBS on page 7
regon’s unemployment rate
edged down to 3.7 percent
in April from 3.8 percent
in March, reaching a new
record low since comparable re-
cords began in 1976. The U.S. un-
employment rate fell to 4.4 per-
cent in April. Oregon’s rate was
significantly below its year-ago
rate of 5.0 percent in April 2016.
In April, nonfarm payroll em-
ployment rose by 6,600 following
a revised gain of 1,300 in March.
Gains were widespread among the
industries, with eight of the 14 ma-
jor industries each adding close to
1,000 jobs. Meanwhile only three
industries cut jobs, and those loss-
es were modest: government (-700
jobs), wholesale trade (-500), and
information (-300).
Over the past 12 months, Or-
egon’s total nonfarm payroll
employment rose 39,100, or 2.1
percent, which was a decelera-
tion from the growth rate near or
above 3 percent throughout much
of the past four years. Despite the
deceleration, Oregon is still grow-
ing faster than the U.S. growth rate
of 1.6 percent.
Since April 2016, Oregon’s con-
struction sector grew the fastest of
the major industries, adding 6,400
jobs, or 7.2 percent. Within con-
struction, specialty trade contrac-
tors and construction of buildings
grew quickly. Transportation,
warehousing and utilities (+3,600
jobs, or 6.0%) also expanded rap-
idly, due to growth in transporta-
tion and warehousing. Profession-
al and business services (+8,700
jobs, or 3.7%) was the third-fastest
growing major industry catego-
ry. It was led by strong job gains
in employment services. Health
care and social assistance (+6,800
jobs, or 3.0%) rounded out the list
of fastest growing industries, as
each of its four component indus-
tries added jobs at a rapid clip.
The Oregon Employment De-
partment and the U.S. Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) work coop-
eratively to develop and publish
monthly Oregon payroll employ-
ment and labor force data. The es-
timates of monthly job gains and
losses are based on a survey of
businesses. The estimates of un-
employment are based on a survey
of households and other sources.
The Oregon Employment De-
partment
publishes
payroll
employment estimates that are
revised quarterly by using em-
ployment counts from employer
unemployment insurance tax
records. All department publica-
tions use this Official Oregon Se-
ries data unless noted otherwise.
This month’s release incorporates
the October, November and De-
cember 2016 tax records data. In
addition, data for July through
September 2016 were revised up-
ward by a total of 600 to 1,300 jobs
per month. The department con-
tinues to make the original non-
farm payroll employment series
available; these data are produced
by the BLS.
The pdf version of the news re-
lease, including tables and graphs,
can be found at www.QualityInfo.
org/press-release. To obtain the
data in other formats such as in
Excel, visit www.QualityInfo.org,
then within the top banner, select
Economic Data, then choose LAUS
or CES. To request the press re-
lease as a Word document, contact
the person shown at the top of this
press release.
For help finding jobs and train-
ing resources, visit one of the
state’s WorkSource Oregon Cen-
ters or go to: www.WorkSourceO-
regon.org.
