Posted on March 9, 2018

Black Unemployment Falls to Second-Lowest Level on Record in February

Joseph Lawler, Washington Examiner, March 9, 2018

The unemployment rate for black Americans fell back down to an historic low in February, after spiking up in January.

Just 6.9 percent of black adults were unemployed in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the second-lowest such ratio since the agency has been keeping track.

The low mark was set in December, at 6.8 percent. Then, the rate spiked to 7.7 percent, but that increase proved short-lived.

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When the black jobless rate hit the record low in January, though, the NAACP gave credit to the long-running recovery that began under former President Barack Obama, rather than to Trump specifically, and noted that blacks still suffer much higher rates of unemployment than whites.

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Hispanic workers, too, are currently enjoying historically low rates of unemployment. At 4.9 percent in February, Hispanic unemployment is just a tenth of a percentage point above the historic low.