Business
African-American unemployment unchanged at 13.8% despite an increase in hiring
Monday, March 11, 2013
African-American unemployment remains high at 13.8 percent despite U.S. employers increasing hiring in February, adding 236,000 jobs and pushing the overall unemployment rate down to 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January.
African-American teen joblessness rose from 37.8 to 43.1 percent.
Increased hiring shows that businesses are confident about the economy, despite higher taxes and government spending cuts.
The government’s February employment report was filled with mostly encouraging details. Hiring has averaged more than 200,000 per month since November. Wages have increased, and the job gains were broad-based, led by the best construction hiring in six years.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press