Unemployment for black men 20 and older increased in October

(Special from Black-mansStreet.Today) – The nation’s businesses added 250,000 jobs in October, but the jobless rate for Blacks in general and for black men 20 and older went up, but the rate for the latter group was much lower compared with the same month a year ago.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported that the overall unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7 percent as the number of unemployed remained at 6.1 million.

The jobless rate for African Americans was 6.2 percent in October compared to 6.0 percent in September, but it was well below 7.5 percent, the rate recorded in October 2017, BLS reported.

The unemployment rate for black men 20 and older was 6.3 percent in October compared with 5.8 percent in September.

The jobless rate for this age group of Black men in October 2018 was much lower when compared to the 7.5 percent jobless rate in October 2017.

The overall unemployment rate for Blacks was helped by declines in the jobless rate for Black women 20 and older. BLS reported a 4.9 percent jobless rate in October compared with 5.3 percent in September. In October 2017, the unemployment rate for Black women 20 and older was 6.6 percent.

The jobless rate for blacks was much higher when compared with other racial and ethnic groups. BLS reported that October’s jobless rate for white men 20 and older was 3.0 percent, for Asians, it was 3.2 percent; and for Hispanics, it was 3.9 percent.

The highest unemployment rate for African-American men and women was in the District of Columbia (12.4 percent), followed by Illinois (9.3 percent), Louisiana (8.5 percent), Alabama (7.1 percent), and New York (7.0 percent), according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The Black unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2018 was at or below its pre-recession level in 18 states: Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, EPI reported.

The Black unemployment rate was the lowest in Massachusetts and Virginia (3.8 percent) and the highest in Illinois (9.3 percent and the District of Columbia (12.4 percent). The nation’s capital has been the capital of Black unemployment for the last eight quarters, according to EPI.

Businesses added jobs in health care, manufacturing, construction, transportation and warehousing.

This article originally published in the November 12, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.