Black unemployment rises again in September jobs report | 8.0% vs 5.1% in September 2019;

Headlines

Read Time:55 Second

The jobless rate for Black unemployment rose almost a full percentage point to 8.0%, accounting for much of the decline.

The miss on the headline jobs numbers was disappointing enough, but the September 2021 jobs report showed that Black workers are facing an even bigger struggle to find employment compared with job seekers of other races.

But the rate of unemployment among Black workers rose in August to 8.8% from 8.2% in July. The white unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell to 4.5% from 4.8% and the Asian unemployment rate dropped to 4.6% from 5.3%.

A majority of economists and President Joe Biden pointed to the growing number of cases of the Covid-19 delta variant for sluggish overall job numbers. Experts have also pointed to a retreat in consumer confidence for the slowdown in hiring.

The increase in Black unemployment is even more troubling in light of the fact that the labor force participation rate among Black workers rose last month and is about tied with the rate for white workers at 61.6%.

SOURCE: CNBC