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Unemployment rate among Black Americans jumps in March

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6 months ago

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We’re Hiring, Part-time heroes wanted, sign at entrance to Target Store, Queens, New York.

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The unemployment rate among Black Americans jumped in March, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor.

Black unemployment rose to 6.4% last month, up from 5.6% in February. That’s higher than the overall unemployment rate, which edged lower to 3.8% last month, as well as the 3.4% jobless rate for white Americans, which held steady from February.

When accounting for gender, the unemployment rate for Black women aged 20 or older spiked to 5.6%, a big increase from the 4.4% rate in February. Black men’s jobless rates climbed slightly higher to 6.2% from 6.1%.

“That’s a concerning trend,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

Gould pointed out that the unemployment rate for Black Americans has been steadily increasing since December. “I would say it’s not alarming yet, but I think it’s something that we really need to watch in coming months,” she added.

While March’s increase was primarily driven by the surge among Black women, Gould noted that in the past four months, the unemployment rates for both men and women has risen. However, she also cautioned that monthly data for demographic groups can be volatile by nature.

Last month, the labor force participation rate – the percentage of the population that is either employed or actively seeking work – among Black Americans inched lower to 63.6%, down from 63.7% in February.  For Black women, the rate ticked lower to 63% from 63.4%, while it inched down to 69.6% from 69.8% among Black men.

“People are looking for more opportunities, not all of them are getting them, and that’s why the unemployment rate is rising,” Gould added.

This compares to the overall U.S. labor market participation rate, which rose to 62.7% in March from February’s 62.5%.

Black Americans were the demographic group that suffered the most from Covid-induced business shutdowns. The unemployment rate for Black workers peaked at 16.8% in 2020, higher than the overall unemployment rate’s April 2020 high of 14.7%.

Hispanic Americans saw their unemployment rate drop to 4.5% from 5% last month. Similarly, Asian unemployment fell to 2.5% from 3.4% in February.

— CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.

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Economics

UK inflation September 2024

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10 hours ago

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October 16, 2024

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The Canary Wharf business district is seen in the distance behind autumnal leaves on October 09, 2024 in London, United Kingdom.

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LONDON — Inflation in the U.K. dropped sharply to 1.7% in September, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected the headline rate to come in at a higher 1.9% for the month, in the first dip of the print below the Bank of England’s 2% target since April 2021.

Inflation has been hovering around that level for the last four months, and came in at 2.2% in August.

Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, came in at 3.2% for the month, down from 3.6% in August and below the 3.4% forecast of a Reuters poll.

Price rises in the services sector, the dominant portion of the U.K. economy, eased significantly to 4.9% last month from 5.6% in August, now hitting its lowest rate since May 2022.

Core and services inflation are key watch points for Bank of England policymakers as they mull whether to cut interest rates again at their November meeting.

As of Wednesday morning, market pricing put an 80% probability on a November rate cut ahead of the latest inflation print. Analysts on Tuesday said lower wage growth reported by the ONS this week had supported the case for a cut. The BOE reduced its key rate by 25 basis points in August before holding in September.

Within the broader European region, inflation in the euro zone dipped below the European Central Bank’s 2% target last month, hitting 1.8%, according to the latest data.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly.

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Economics

Why Larry Hogan’s long-odds bid for a Senate seat matters

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20 hours ago

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October 15, 2024

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FEW REPUBLICAN politicians differ more from Donald Trump than Larry Hogan, the GOP Senate candidate in Maryland. Consider the contrasts between a Trump rally and a Hogan event. Whereas Mr Trump prefers to take the stage and riff in front of packed arenas, Mr Hogan spent a recent Friday night chatting with locals at a waterfront wedding venue in Baltimore County. Mr Hogan’s stump speech, at around ten minutes, felt as long as a single off-script Trump tangent. Mr Trump delights in defying his advisers; Mr Hogan fastidiously sticks to talking points about bipartisanship, good governance and overcoming tough odds. Put another way, Mr Hogan’s campaign is something Mr Trump is rarely accused of being: boring. But it is intriguing.

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Economics

Polarisation by education is remaking American politics

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3 days ago

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October 13, 2024

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DEPENDING ON where exactly you find yourself, western Pennsylvania can feel Appalachian, Midwestern, booming or downtrodden. No matter where, however, this part of the state feels like the centre of the American political universe. Since she became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris has visited Western Pennsylvania six times—more often than Philadelphia, on the other side of the state. She will mark her seventh on a trip on October 14th, to the small city of Erie, where Donald Trump also held a rally recently. Democratic grandees flit through Pittsburgh regularly. It is where Ms Harris chose to unveil the details of her economic agenda, and it is where Barack Obama visited on October 10th to deliver encouragement and mild chastisement. “Do not just sit back and hope for the best,” he admonished. “Get off your couch and vote.”

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