Business
African American unemployment inches upward despite drop in overall unemployment rate to 7.3%
The rate of unemployment in the African American community inched upwards from 12.6 percent in July to 13.0 percent in August, according to the latest numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Black teen unemployment (still the highest of any group) went down from 41.6 to 38.2 percent.
The unemployment rate in the United States dropped to 7.3 percent, the lowest in nearly five years – however, it fell because more Americans stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed. The proportion of Americans working or looking for work fell to its lowest level in 35 years.
The job gains in the month of July were 104,000, the fewest in more than a year and down from the previous estimate of 162,000. June’s figure was revised to 172,000, from 188,000. The revisions lowered total hiring over those two months by 74,000.
American employers have added an average of just 148,000 jobs in the past three months, well below the 12-month average of 184,000. The Dow Jones industrial average futures slightly after the report was released. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.87 percent, from 2.95 percent, in the first few minutes after the jobs figure was released.
The weaker jobs picture could force the Federal Reserve to hesitate to scale back its bond buying. The Fed’s US$85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bond purchases have helped keep home-loan and other borrowing rates ultra-low to try to encourage consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more.
Chairman Ben Bernanke has said the Fed could begin slowing its bond purchases by year’s end if the economy continues to strengthen and end the purchases by mid-2014. After its September policy meeting, the Fed will announce whether it will taper its monthly purchases and, if so, by how much. Another concern for the Fed is that most of the hiring in August was in lower-paying industries such as retail, restaurants and bars, continuing a trend that began earlier this year. Retailers added 44,000 jobs and hotels, restaurants and bars added 27,000. Temp hiring rose by 13,000.
