Black Worker Jobless Rate: 16.8 percent Under Obama & GOP House of Representatives

Between June and July 2011, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Black workers in the United States increased from 16.5 to 16.8 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 was still 8.2 percent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all Asian-American workers in the United States also jumped from 6.8 to 7.7 percent between June and July 2011.

The number of officially unemployed African-American workers increased by 32,000 (from 2,972,000 to 3,004,000) between June and July 2011, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of officially unemployed Asian-American workers in the United States increased by 64,000 (from 504,000 to 568,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Black female workers over 20 years-of-age jumped from 13.9 to 14.8 percent between June and July 2011; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 16.7 percent in July 2011. The number of unemployed Black female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 90,000 (from 1,251,000 to 1,341,000) between June and July 2011, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of unemployed white female workers over 20-years-of-age increased by 61,000 (from 3,958,000 to 4,119,000) during the same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers over 20 years-of-age also increased from 7.3 to 7.6 percent between June and July 2011.

The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years of age was still 41.4 percent in July 2011, while the official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years of age was still 23.3 percent in July 2011.

In July 2011, the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino or Hispanic workers in the United States was still 11.3 percent; while the number of unemployed Latino or Hispanic workers was still 2,596,000, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina or Hispanic female workers was still 11.3 percent in July 2011; while the number of Latina or Hispanic female workers who had jobs dropped by 117,000 (from 7,852,000 to 7,735,000) between June and July 2011, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino or Hispanic male workers in the United States was also still 9.2 percent in July 2011. And according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data, the official unemployment rate for Latino or Hispanic youth between 16 and 19-years-of-age increased from 35.4 to 36.2 percent between June and July 2011; while the number of unemployed Latino or Hispanic youths increased by 42,000 (from 360,000 to 402,000) 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 was still 9.3 percent in July 2011; while the “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for all female workers over 16 years-of-age increased from 9.1 to 9.4 percent between June and July 2011. Between June and July 2011, the official total number of unemployed U.S. workers over 16-years-of-age increased by 19,000 (from 14,409,000 to 14,428,000), according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ August 5, 2011 press release:

“…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over), at 6.2 million, changed little over the month 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 about unchanged in July at 8.4 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 July, 2.8 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 1.1 million discouraged workers in July…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believed no jobs are available for them…

“…Government employment continued to decline…

“Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-37,000). Employment in state government decreased by 23,000, almost entirely due to a partial shutdown of the Minnesota state government. Employment in local government continued to wane over the month…”