Black Unemployment and America’s ‘Double Tax’
On Everybody’s Business, we unpack the job market challenges faced by women of color, and the rising standard of luxury as disposable income becomes more scarce.
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This week’s jobs report from the Trump administration was surprisingly positive—the unemployment rate fell a bit to 4.3% and the economy added roughly 130,000 jobs, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such an increase would be welcome news, since there’s growing anxiety around the direction of the jobs market. Still, a deeper dive into the BLS numbers revealed some troubling trends. For one thing, most of the jobs were concentrated in social assistance and healthcare—which means those new positions are likely cold comfort for workers recently terminated in the technology or media industries. Also, the unemployment rate among people of color continues to be markedly higher than that of workers overall. The Black unemployment rate is now at roughly 7.5%, up from about 6% just a year ago.