October 3, 2014

Black Unemployment Drops to 11.0% in September 2014

The United States added 248,000 jobs in September 2014 - making it 55 consecutive months of private sector job growth - and unemployment rate dropped to 5.9 percent.  This is the first time that the rate has fallen below 6% since 2008. 

You can click here to check out the unemployment rate in your state.

There are about 9.3 million unemployed people in the country - and our nation's unemployment metrics. There isn't a reason for ticker-tape parade with these numbers ... but, they do show that the economy is continuing to trend in a positive direction.

The numbers in the Black community are bad!

The unemployment rate in the Black community dropped in September 2014 to 11.0%. This compares to previous months:

The unemployment rate for Black teenagers (age 16-19) is horrific - 30.5%. I remain very appreciative that my 17-year old daughter has been able to find summer and after-school work.

The Labor Department said private companies accounted for virtually the entire 248,000 increase in jobs last month. Employment rose in professional and business services (+ 81k), retail trade (+56k) and health care (+23k). The increase in jobs for September 2014 is above the 213,000 average sustained in the previous 12 months.

What is your opinion of the unemployment data that was released today?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Reniqua Allen, a journalist and Emerging Voices Fellow at the Demos think tank in Washington wrote an article, 'For Black Men: A Permanent Recession.'

The article investigates the jobless rate for African-American males, which is more than double that for white men, and profiles five African-American job seekers in New York state, home to the largest number of blacks in the country and consistently one of the most expensive places to live. Allen reports that black men in New York experience the longest periods of unemployment out of any other group, often averaging more than 42 weeks.

In the article, five African-American men in the New York area speak about their individual experiences finding work – highlighting the human angle and the personal side of this nationwide problem.