An in-depth look at unemployment, including long-term unemployment, among African American or black workers. Since 1972, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking unemployment rates by race, it has become clear that the overall unemployment rate for the United States has masked the depth of the unemployment problem within the African American community. This report is the first in a series of Joint Economic Committee reports examining theunemployment situation among different demographic groups. It shows that while AfricanAmerican workers have historically faced rates of unemployment and long-term unemployment higher than the overall rate, the unemployment problems in the African American community were exacerbated during the Great Recession. Additionally, a larger percentage of African Americans are currently “marginally attached” or have dropped out of the work force, relativeto the population as a whole. Specifically, this report shows that: The current unemployment rate for African Americans is over 6 percentage pointshigher than the overall unemployment rate. African American men have been especially hit during this recession, with nearly 1 in 5 facing unemployment. African American women have seen their unemployment rate jump from 7.1 percent in February 2007 to 13.1 percent in February 2010. Moreover, African American female heads of household, who bear the sole financial responsibility for their families, have an even higher unemployment rate of 15.0 percent. African American workers of all ages are experiencing higher unemployment rates than the overall population, but younger workers have been especially hard hit during this recession. More than 2 out of 5 African American teenagers are unemployed, compared to an overall teen unemployment rate of slightly over 25 percent. While having at least a college degree has usually been an effective shield against unemployment, African Americans with a 4-year college degree have an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent, almost double the unemployment rate for white workers (4.5 percent) with a similar level of education. African Americans have experienced longer stretches of unemployment than the general population. Although African American workers make up only 11.5 percent of the labor force, they account for more than 20 percent of the long-term unemployed, and make up 22 percent of workers who have been unemployed for over a year. The median duration of unemployment for African American workers has risen from lessthan 3 months before the recession began to almost six months. Finally, using an alternative measure of unemployment and underemployment, this report shows that one in four African Americans faces underemployment orunemployment. Understanding the employment challenges facing the African American community is just one important part of the process of devising effective policies to reduce unemployment for workers in all demographic groups. Longer durations of unemployment and higher unemployment rates could be symptomatic of a mismatch between skills and available jobs and may require more targeted policy actions to correct. Unemployment among teenagers is especially troubling, as economists have found that spells of unemployment among youth may lead to lower future wages and poorer career trajectories. Thus, in addition to reducing the unemployment rate, policymakers must also consider ways of limiting the long-term impact of the recession on workers who have been unemployed for extended periods of time to makesure that these workers can move into employment.
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