March 8, 2016

Black Unemployment Rate Remains Flat in February
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Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The nation’s non-farm payroll added 242,000 jobs in February, but the Black unemployment rate remained flat, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported.

The overall jobless rate for African-Americans in February was 8.8 percent, unchanged from January.

Black men 20 years old and older reported a higher jobless rate of 8.6 percent in February compared with 8.4 percent in January.

The jobless rate for Black women 20 years old and older was 7.9 percent in February, unchanged from January.

Blacks continue to suffer from the nation’s highest unemployment rate. The Black unemployment rate also continues to be double that of Whites, which remains well under the national rate of 4.9 percent.

The unemployment rate for Whites was 4.3 percent in February, the same as January. Asians reported the lowest unemployment rate of 3.8 percent, up from 3.7 percent in January. Hispanics, however, saw a drop in their jobless rate to 5.4 percent in February, down from 5.9 percent in January.

BLS reported job gains in health care, social assistance, retail trade, food services and private educational services.