Unemployment Rate For Black Women Continues To Rise

Black women had the most significant increase in joblessness compared to other groups.

According to concerning new statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for Black women sharply increased in November.

The Dec. 6 report from the Bureau revealed that overall unemployment has been on the rise slightly, moving from 4.1% in October to 4.2% in November, but this change has been disproportionately felt by communities of color — particularly Black women. They experienced the most significant increase in joblessness compared to other groups, with the jobless rate soaring to 6% from 4.9% in October. This change is steep compared to the unemployment rate of white women for example, which only shifted slightly up to 3.4% from 3.3% in October — which better reflects the trend in the United States.

As reported by CNBC, senior fellow and research advisor at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Kevin Rinz, pointed out, “The increase for Black women has been more pronounced than for white women.”

This isn’t the first time the Black unemployment rate has been concerning to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Black workers also had the highest unemployment rate last month, rising to 6.4% from a still-high 5.7%. For Black men, the jobless rate settled at 6%, while it continued to remain steady through October and November at 3.5% for white men.

Rinz continued to explain, “This is a broader picture of a gradually cooling labor market that is still relatively strong by recent historical standards, but less able to deliver the gains for more marginalized workers that we saw immediately after the pandemic.”

He recognized that the data between months is volatile, but that the changes seem to be felt more steeply in communities of color.
The general participation in the labor force — which is a designation reserved for those in the population who are employed or also actively seeking work — fell in November. While the general statistic fell to 62.5%, for Black women, the number hit 62.3% in November, compared to 62.6% in October. The rate also tanked for Black men, hitting 68.7% last month as opposed to 69.3% in October for the demographic.