Black workers were hurt the most by the weak September job market: The Black unemployment rate jumped from 6% to 7%, the highest among the major racial groups tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The U.S. added only 29,000 jobs last month — a major number below the 84,000 economists had expected — and the overall unemployment rate edged up to 4.2%.
In September, white unemployment slipped to 3.6%, Asian unemployment fell to 2.9%, and Latino unemployment eased to 4.7%. “The September jobs data highlights the economic vulnerability and insecurity facing Black workers,” Dr. Gabrielle Smith Finnie, senior research analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, told the Amsterdam News. “As the labor market weakens from August to September, the Black unemployment rate increased from 6% to 7%. The unemployment rate for Black men, Black women, and Black youth aged 16 to 24 also increased.”
Stats show that Black employment has been uneven this year. Joint Center research found that unemployment among Black men generally declined from 8.1% in January to 6.2% in August, after a brief March increase, before rising to 6.7% in September. Black women had a rockier employment path: 6.5% in January, 7.7% in February, 6.3% in March, 6.9% in April, then 5.8% in July and 5.9% in August, before climbing to 7.3% in September. Young Black workers saw the widest swings, moving from 13.7% in January to 16.6% in June, then falling to 12% in July and 11.5% in August before rising to 14.4% in September.
“I think the takeaway is that the market is not improving or weakening; rather, the indicators are just moving a little bit differently,” Smith Finnie said. “I think the decline in Black unemployment has been encouraging to see, but sustained improvement will depend on if the lower unemployment is accompanied by stronger employment and also labor force participation over time.”
September’s few employment gains were in fields where Black workers have a significant presence: Healthcare added 17,000 jobs, construction added 11,000, and manufacturing added 9,000. Financial activities lost 7,000 jobs. Smith Finnie noted that Black women are heavily represented in healthcare and Black men in construction, but warned against treating national industry gains as proof of equivalent gains for Black workers.
Since October 2021, the national unemployment rate has been at or below 4.5% — the longest streak in modern history. However, Smith Finnie said that even with that low national unemployment rate, economists have to look at related aspects such as the numerical data collected from the Census Bureau Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS) from July 15 through August 3 “to really capture the full experiences of Black communities economically.” The HTOPS survey found that more than 7 million Black adults said paying household expenses was somewhat difficult, while more than 1.5 million found it very difficult. More than 2.5 million reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat; 5.8 million described recent price increases as very stressful.
“I think, as always,” Smith Finnie said, “we just must continuously acknowledge the disparities in data and then also advocate for targeted solutions to specifically address Black unemployment.”
