Economy 101: Jobless rate widens for black workers

story by AP
written by Christopher Leonard

When the unemployment rate rose last month, the pain wasn't spread evenly.

There is always statistical noise in month-to-month changes in the labor market, but some patterns are clear. Black workers still have a far higher unemployment rate than other groups measured by the Labor Department. And the gap appears to be widening. In August it hit 16.3 percent after being 15.6 in July.

For whites, the unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in August, up from 8.6 percent.

It's unclear if the bigger jump in unemployment for black workers is a short-term fluke, said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute. The timing seems to correlate with the end of temporary census jobs, which might have gone disproportionately to black workers.

These and other details can be found in the government's latest jobs report.

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PRIVATE SECTOR IS GAINING STEAM...

67,000: Private-sector jobs added in August
107,000: Private-sector jobs added in July
61,000: Private-sector jobs added in June

BUT PUBLIC SECTOR IS SPUTTERING...

114,000: Number of temporary census positions cut
10,000: Number of state and local government positions cut
54,000: Net loss of jobs in the economy during July

... AND THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE CLIMBS
9.6 percent: Unemployment rate in August
9.5 percent: Unemployment rate in July
550,000: New job hunters in August, which pushed up unemployment rate

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY RACE & ETHNICITY

8.7 percent: White workers
16.3 percent: Black workers
12 percent: Hispanic workers
7.2 percent: Asian workers

.... AND EDUCATION LEVEL

14 percent: Adults with no diploma
10.3 percent: Adults with a diploma
8.7 percent: Adults with some college education
4.6 percent: Adults with college degree

.... AND AGE

26.3 percent: For workers 16 to 19 year olds
9.8 percent: Men ages 20 and older
8 percent: Women ages 20 and older

LONG HAUL

33.6 weeks: Average length of unemployment in August
16.5 weeks: Average length of unemployment in December 2007, when the recession began
6.2 million: Number of people jobless for six months or longer
1.3 million: Number unemployed for that long in December 2007, when the recession began

AREAS OF STRENGTH

28,000: Jobs added in hospitals, nursing and other health care sectors
19,000: Jobs added in construction
8,000: Jobs added by auto dealers
8,000: Jobs added in mining
17,000: Jobs added in temporary professional and business services

AREAS OF WEAKNESS

-27,000: Job losses in manufacturing
-22,000: Job losses in the auto and auto parts manufacturing
-6,000: Job losses in building materials and garden supply stores