Black Male Worker Jobless Rate Jumps To 18 Percent Under Obama & GOP House of Representatives

Between July and August 2011, the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States jumped from 17 to 18 percent under the Democratic Obama Administration and the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives; while the unemployment rate for all Black workers jumped from 15.9 to 16.7 percent during the same period, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age also jumped from 39.2 to 46.5 percent between July and August 2011; while the unemployment rate for Black women over 20 years-of-age was still 13.4 percent in August 2011.

The number of officially unemployed Black workers increased by 193,000 (from 2,796,000 to 2,989,000) between July and August 2011, according to the “seasonally adjusted” data; while the number of officially unemployed Black male workers over 20 years-of-age in the United States increased by 105,000 (from 1,364,000 to 1,469,000) during the same period. The number of jobless Black women workers over 20 years-of-age also increased by 30,000 (from 1,200,000 to 1,230,000) between July and August 2011; and the number of unemployed Black youths between 16 and 19 years-of age increased by 58,000 (from 233,000 to 291,000) during the same period.

In August 2011, the official “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 increased by 15,000 (from 2,570,000 to 2,585,000) between July and August 2011. The official “not seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for Latina or Hispanic female workers over 20 years-of-age also increased from 11.3 to 11.4 percent between July and August 2011; while the number of unemployed Latina or Hispanic female workers over 20 years-of-age increased by 28,000 (from 987,000 to 1,015,000) during the same period. The official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Latino or Hispanic male workers in the United States was also still 8.9 percent in August 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 36.2 to 37.4 percent between July and August 2011; while the number of Latino or Hispanic youths who had jobs dropped by 77,000 (from 708,000 to 631,000) during this same period, according to the “not seasonally adjusted” data.

The official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white youths between 16 and 19 years-of-age was still 23 percent in August 2011; while the number of unemployed white youths increased by 23,000 (from 1,083,000 to 1,106,000) between July and August 2011. The official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate for white male workers over 20 years-of-age was still 8 percent in August 2011; while the official “not seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for Asian-American workers was still 7.1 percent during the same month, although the number of Asian-American workers who had jobs dropped by 50,000 (from 6,838,000 to 6,788,000) between July and August 2011. In addition, the official “seasonally adjusted” jobless rate for white female workers was still 7 percent in August 2011, although the number of white female workers over 20 years-of-age with jobs dropped by 40,000 (from 50,866,000 to 50,826,000) between July and August 2011.

For all U.S. workers (male and female) over 16 years-of-age, the official “seasonally adjusted” unemployment rate was still 9.1 percent in August 2011; while the jobless rate for all U.S. male workers over 16 years-of-age was still 9.6 percent in August 2011. And between July and August 2011, the official total number of unemployed U.S. workers over 16 years-of-age increased by 36,000 (from 13,931,000 to 13,967,000), according to the “seasonally adjusted” data.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Sept. 2, 2011 press release:

“…Government employment continued to trend down…The number of unemployed persons, at 14.0 million, was essentially unchanged in August, and the unemployment rate held at 9.1 percent…The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was about unchanged at 6.0 million in August and accounted for 42.9 percent of the unemployed…The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) rose from 8.4 million to 8.8 million in August. These individuals were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job…

“About 2.6 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in August, up from 2.4 million a year earlier…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 977,000 discouraged workers in August…Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them…

“Total nonfarm payroll employment, at 131.1 million, was unchanged in August…Employment changed little in most major private-sector industries…Employment in the information industry declined by 48,000 in August. About 45,000 workers in the telecommunications industry were on strike and thus off company payrolls during the survey reference period…Manufacturing employment was essentially unchanged in August (-3,000)…

“Government employment continued to trend down over the month (-17,000)…Employment in local government continued to decline…In August, average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls decreased…The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for June was revised from +46,000 to +20,000, and the change for July was revised from +117,000 to +85,000…”