Black-White Employment Gaps Drag On

Since the recession dropped Black women's employment rates below White women's, the new gap persists. And for men it's widening.

When last we checked, Black women had an employment rate about 1% lower than White women, which was a reversal of their status before the recession. No progress to report.

The news on unemployment doesn't dwell on this disparity, maybe (charitably) since it's such old news. As of September, both groups are trending downward, and the gap is 0.7%.

Source: My chart from BLS data.

In contrast, Black men had lower employment rates before the recession (62% v. 72% in October 2008). But the drop has still been greater for Black men.

Source: My chart from BLS data.

Note that, given the uncertainty in unemployment benefits and the propensity to be discouraged during the jobless recovery, I prefer to follow employment rates rather than unemployment (officially searching) rates.

Cross posted from the Family Inequality blog.

 

Comments

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

05:16 PM on 11/04/2010

Why does this chart/data only include white vs. black? Where might the asian, latino, muslim etc., charts/data be? Mr. Cohen....is there any specific reason for the lack of all data to be included?

[Philip N. Cohen]

09:54 AM on 11/07/2010

Because it's about the difference in employment rates between Whites and Blacks. The link to the data source is right there - you're welcome to make any charts you like from the BLS data.

[Alwayspissedoffatsomeone]

12:40 PM on 11/07/2010

I guess I've not made it clear my intentions with my reply. Let's try again but in simpler form. Why must it be always black vs white? An article about the distances of employment and it's unequivalences should incorporate all races to justify any real conclusions about these differences. Without all the data being used, one cannot conclude a true feeling for the lesser which is what I believe your intentions were with this article. I see these same comparisons all the time and at no time do any of them address the real reasons for the differences, only the end statistics, and a feeling of self-imposed guilt. Be it data of only the usual two races, it would be refreshing to see real indepth data on why these differences are.