Black Worker Jobless Rate: 16.5 Percent Under Obama & GOP House of Representatives

Between May and June 2011, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Black workers in the United States increased from 16 to 16.5 percent under the Democratic Obama Administration and the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives; while the “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all white workers in the United States increased from 7.7 to 8.2 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The number of officially unemployed African-American workers increased by 134,000 (from 2,838,000 to 2,972,000) between May and June 2011, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of officially unemployed white workers in the United States increased by 722,000 (from 9,618,000 to 10,340,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data..

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years of age jumped from 40 to 45 percent between May and June 2011, while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years of age increased from 20.6 to 24.8 percent during this same period.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age jumped from 13 to 13.9 percent between May and June 2011; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 16.7 percent in June 2011. The number of unemployed Black female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 79,000 (from 1,172,000 to 1,251,000) between May and June 2011, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of unemployed white female workers over 20-years-of-age increased by 205,000 (from 3,753,000 to 3,958,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

Between May and June 2011, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino or Hispanic workers in the United States also increased from 11.1 to 11.5 percent; while the number of unemployed Latino or Hispanic workers increased by 125,000 (from 2,518,000 to 2,643,000), according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data, during this same period. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina or Hispanic female workers increased from 11.1 to 11.4 percent between May and June 2011; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino or Hispanic male workers in the United States was still 9.8 percent in June 2011. According to the “not seasonally adjusted” data, the official unemployment rate for Latino or Hispanic youth between 16 and 19-years-of-age jumped from 26.1 to 35.4 percent between May and June 2011; while the number of unemployed Latino or Hispanic youths increased by 130,000 (from 236,000 to 360,000) during this same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

For all U.S. workers (male and female) over 16 years-of-age, the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate increased from 8.7 to 9.3 percent between May and June 2011; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all male workers over 16 years-of-age increased from 9.2 to 9.6 percent and the “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age increased from 8.3 to 9.1 percent during this same period. Between May and June 2011, the official total number of unemployed U.S. workers over 16-years-of-age increased by 988,000 (from 13,421,000 to 14,409,000), according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July 8, 2011 press release:

“…Since March, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 545,000, and the unemployment rate has risen by 0.4 percentage point…

“The number of persons unemployed for less than 5 weeks increased by 412,000 in June. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was essentially unchanged over the month, at 6.3 million, and accounted for 44.4 percent of the unemployed…

“The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was essentially unchanged in June at 8.6 million. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“In June, 2.7 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force…These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey…

“Among the marginally attached, there were 982,000 discouraged workers in June…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“Employment has been essentially flat for the past 2 months…Government employment continued to trend down…

“…Employment in temporary help services changed little over the month and has shown little movement on net so far this year…

“Employment in government continued to trend down over the month (-39,000). Federal employment declined by 14,000 in June. Employment in both state government and local government continued to trend down over the month and has been falling since the second half of 2008…

“Manufacturing employment changed little in June…Employment in this industry has been flat for the past 2 months…

“Construction employment was essentially unchanged in June….Employment in construction has shown little movement on net since early 2010…

“In June, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased…”