Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), Ranking Democrat on the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement after the Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate is at 5.5 percent and the unemployment rate for the African American community ticked up to 10.4 percent.
Says Maloney, ?The good news is that the unemployment rate for African Americans is down significantly from its recession peak.? But the black unemployment rate remains higher in February than the national unemployment rate ever reached during the recession. This persistent racial gap in employment opportunities is unacceptable. As our nation commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March, we should take this as a time to reflect on how much more work must be done to expand economic opportunities for the African American community.?
Some quick facts from the February 2015 Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate:
??? ???? The unemployment rate for African American workers is at 10.4 percent.?Over the past twelve months, that rate has fallen 1.6 percentage points.
??? ???? While the overall unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 percent (October 2009) as a result of the recent recession, the unemployment rate for African American workers reached a high of 16.8 percent (March 2010). Heading into the recession, African Americans faced an unemployment rate of 9.0 percent, four percentage points higher than the overall unemployment rate of 5.0 percent.
??? ???? For African American men age 20 and over, the unemployment rate is 10.4 percent, a decrease of 2.4 percentage points from one year ago.? For African American women age 20 and over, the unemployment rate decreased 0.9 percentage point from one year ago, to 8.9 percent.
??? ???? Unemployment among African American teens is significantly higher than the rate for all teens?? 30.0 percent of African Americans teens are unemployed compared to 17.1 percent of all teens.
