Unemployment Rates Still on the Rise for Black Women

Unemployment rates across the board have fallen, but work still needs to be done when it comes to Black women.

Data from the Labor Department shows the unemployment rate for Black women increased by 0.3%. CNBC reported the rate went from 5.2% to 5.5% in November. Michelle Holder, senior fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth says we have “regained jobs lost” but it’s still impacting a group of people. “But the sort of industrial mix has changed, and has kind of impacted what we’re seeing with regard to the distribution of joblessness, by gender, race and ethnicity. And it’s really disaffecting Black women and Latinx men,” Holder told CNBC.

Rates for Latinx men have also increased to 4% in December from from 3.6% in November.

This looks to have been the trend for Black women in 2022. In February, it rose to 6.1% from 5.8% in January. Then, again in April, increasing from 5% to 5.9%, according to CNBC.

However, in 2023, economists like Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute say the labor market is “strong.”

There is room for growth when it comes to the hospitality and leisure space. Black women and Latinx men are well-represented but it is still below the pre-pandemic levels. Employment rose by 67,000 last month, but is still 5.5% below what it was in February 2020. Holder believes this space is a large part of the issue regarding Black women and the work force. “This is what is constraining Black women’s ability to get back to the state that they were with regard to the American workforce before the pandemic.”

There is a small light at the end of the tunnel. With the Dow Jones estimating 200,000 non-farm payrolls for December, the number actually grew by 223,000. The average earnings per hour increased 4.6% from a year ago. However, some parts of the economy where Black women are actually overrepresented aren’t showing the same improvement. The Labor Department shows industries like government jobs only added 3,000 jobs in December. Some state government education employment dropped close to 25,000, thanks to university employee strikes.