The unemployment rate for black Americans is always a hotly debated topic. This year, the overall unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1%. However, the disparity is clear when you break down the numbers by race. For black Americans, the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high at 8.6%. In this blog post, we’ll take a detailed look at the trends in black employment over the past few years. We’ll also investigate what factors contribute to this persistent gap in employment rates.
Why does Black Unemployment happen?
The Black unemployment rate by year is a useful statistic for assessing the economic situation of black workers. Black unemployment figures are also linked with other possible causes that may or may not affect Black unemployment numbers. These include potential factors such as the more high-profile ones like how Black household income is very low compared to white household income, Blackwork hours are usually more than white work hours, and Black college graduation rates are lower than White college graduation rates by significant margins.
More likely, Black Unemployment will continue unless drastic changes happen in the society, including institutionalized racism and government policies on employment, education, housing, etc. Also, media contribute to social disparities between blacks and whites because of their under-representation of black people in popular television shows and movies. Black unemployment is not just affected by Black racism; it has deeper roots in this society that currently seems normal to everyone.
Black Unemployment Rate Year by Year Trends
Black unemployment has been a major issue for the past several decades in America, and it’s still considered quite a significant problem in modern society. A quick look at any of the many Black Unemployment Rate by year charts will show that Black unemployment rates have fluctuated greatly throughout the past few years. Below are Black US unemployment rates since 2000.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its monthly jobs, highlighting a decrease in Black unemployment. Black unemployment fell sharply to 6.6 percent, beating out the 6.9 percent recorded in May 2017. June 2018’s Black unemployment rate by year matches the record low Black unemployment rate set nearly two decades ago in April 2000 at 6.6 percent.
Black Unemployment Rate Detailed Trends Analysis
The Black unemployment rate is the unemployment rate for Black Americans. For 2017, the Black unemployment rate has trended higher to 7.7%. The Black Unemployment Rate ( 7.7%) is currently 37.45% lower than the overall national unemployment percentage ( 4.4%).
The Black labor force participation rate is unemployed but is looking for work and is willing and able to work now according to BLS standards of being actively en devour searching for employment. The Black labor force participation rate is 64%, 5% higher than the national average of 59%.
The Black economy contributed $836 billion to American’s income in 2016, 12% of America’s total income. This contribution has increased by 25$ billion since 2015. Black business ownership is at a record high of 1,325,000 black-owned businesses in the U.S. Black-owned businesses employ nearly 8 million people and are growing faster than the national average by over 3%. In 2017 Black Americans purchased 68% more cars from automobile dealers than they did in 2009 during the Great Recession ( auto sales, Black buying power ).
Black consumer expenditure has reached an all-time high with $1 trillion in spending last year; this includes car purchases, housing, banking services, loans, etc.; black consumers spent 22% more in retail stores than they did in 2009 ( Black buying power ).
The Black unemployment rate year by year is the highest in Washington D.C at 17%, followed by Wisconsin with 15% Black unemployment and then Michigan with a Black unemployment rate of 14%. According to President Donald Trump in a published interview in 2017, in districts where Black people are the majority, Black people have the worst schools, and Black neighborhoods have no jobs; all they have is “broken homes.”
In 2016, the Median weekly earnings for Black men were $744 compared to the national average of $871 per week. In 2017, Pew Research Center found that 34% of black households own their home, nearly double from when homeownership levels among Black Americans were below 30% from-1995.
January 2003 – December 2015 Black Unemployment Rate Year by Year
One of the most shocking statistics of Black America today is the high Black unemployment rate year by year. The Black unemployment rate in 2014 has been at an all-time low, but this does not mean that Black Americans are able to get jobs; it means that unemployed Blacks have stopped looking for work and dropped out of the workforce. The Black unemployment rate was recorded at 10.3 percent in February 2015, more than double the 4.5 percent white unemployment rate.
The past three years show a promising downward trend in the Black unemployment rate, with rates dropping more than 1 percent since 2012. Black unemployment reached a high in March 2010, when Black unemployment stood at 16.8 percent. Black employment growth has followed the same upward and a downward trend as Black unemployment rates. In January 2003, Black employment was 41,945,000 and rose to 45,894,000 in September 2013 before falling back down to 44,591,000 by November 2014. The number of Black Americans who are unemployed or out of the workforce due to a lack of job prospects has increased from 2007 through the present day. Although this is a year-on-year black unemployment rate detailed analysis because it does not account for Black Americans going back into the labor force, the data should be viewed with skepticism.
The year-on-year black unemployment rate detailed trend analysis shows that Black unemployment hit an all-time low in December 2013, standing at 12.1 percent. Black employment also reached its highest point in December 2013, with 17,027,000 Black Americans working. Black unemployment rose sharply by 1.7 percent to 14.8 percent in January 2014 before falling more than one percentage point to 13.7 percent by October of that year. Black unemployment again peaked in March 2015 at 14.9 percent. Black employment fell by more than 2 million workers from November 2014 to January 2015, dropping the Black American labor force participation rate; this is not accounted for by the data presented.
Since the black unemployment rate year by year has fallen since its peak of 16.8 percent in 2010, it is evident that Blacks are slowly out of the economic recession, and their employment picture is improving, albeit slowly. However, black American labor force participation rates have also increased over the past several years, which indicates that Black Americans are still struggling to find work even though they are looking. Black unemployment rate detailed trend analysis by year shows how Black America has made progress towards full employment in the past few years, but much more needs to be done to put Black America back into a thriving economy truly.
Conclusion
The Black unemployment rate year by year has been consistently higher than the white unemployment rate. This is not a new phenomenon, and it does not seem to be improving with time, as we can see from our year-on-year analysis. There are many theories about why this might be, but there’s no definitive answer yet. We will continue to monitor these trends to identify what factors may play into this persistent disparity between Blacks and Whites when it comes to employment opportunities. Please reach out if you have any thoughts or comments around black vs. white unemployment rates.
