Black Unemployment Rate Falls to 10.9 Percent — But the National Unemployment Rate is Still Around Half at Just 5.8 Percent

Nationwide — According to figures recently released by the U.S. Labor Department, African-American employment has slightly fallen to 10.9 percent, from 11.0 percent in September. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate also fell slightly, from 5.9 percent to 5.8 percent. Experts say this is the lowest in six years.

President Obama commented, “What we need now to do is to make sure that we build on this momentum, because we recognize that despite the solid growth, despite the drop in unemployment, there are still a lot of folks out there who are anxious about their futures, who are having trouble making ends meet at the end of the month or saving for their kids’ college education, or being able to make sure that they’re able to retire with dignity and respect.”

He added, “And so everything that we do for the next two years is designed and geared towards ensuring that folks who work hard in this country are able to get ahead.”

The Labor Dept reports that their have been nine consecutive months of strong job growth, with 214,000 jobs being added in October, and 248,000 jobs being added in September. They also report that 31,000 more jobs were added in both August and September than they had previously estimated.

But is this enough?

Not according to Dedrick Asante-Muhammad Sr., director of the NAACP’s economic department. He comments, “Minorities have shifted from the decimated public and manufacturing workforce to an overwhelming representation in retail occupations such as customer service, administrative support, waste removal and security. These positions in particular have very little pressure to raise wages… [and] until we see significant growth in wages for all occupations and people, we cannot call this a full recovery.”

To see the latest stats on U.S. employment by race, sex and age, visit: www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t02.htm