Black unemployment nearly double White joblessness as overall rate falls

Black unemployment in the U.S. rose to its highest in nearly a year in June, almost doubling White joblessness, which ticked down slightly, according to reports. 

Last month, the overall unemployment rate fell by from 3.7% in May to 3.6%. Black unemployment actually increased to 6%, and Black job losses accounted for 90% of the recent rise in unemployment from April when it was down to 3.4%, a new Labor Department report said, according to Bloomberg and CNBC. 

Compared to a Black joblessness rate of 6%, White unemployment fell to 3.1%. 

Latino unemployment also increased in June, to 4.3% up from 4% in May. Asian unemployment increased to 3.2%, partly because those workers returned to the labor market, Bloomberg reported. 

MAJORITY OF WORKERS REGRET QUITTING DURING ‘GREAT RESIGNATION’

June was the highest rate of unemployment for Black workers since last August, when it hit 6.4%. 

Unemployment rose for all demographic groups last August, but Black workers were the only group whose labor force participation fell. 

Since April, the number of unemployed in the country has increased by 300,000, with Black workers accounting for the vast majority with 267,000 job losses, Bloomberg reported.  

The unemployment rate also rose for Black workers in May to 5.6% from April. 

“If the employment level for Black workers has gone down pretty significantly for the last three months, then that is a red flag,” Carmen Sanchez Cumming, a researcher with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth told CNBC.

Black employment has decreased by 3% over the last three months. 

She said higher unemployment is a symptom of businesses reaching employment levels similar to before the coronavirus pandemic after scrambling to rehire workers when the economy began reopening. 

Black workers are also more likely to be fired when the economy slows, Bloomberg reported, citing research. 

“If conditions continue to weaken, or even accelerate, the gains won by Black workers and other vulnerable groups could diminish quickly,” William Rodgers, director of the St. Louis Fed’s Institute of Economic Equity, told Bloomberg.