So, anyway, who is unemployed?
The demographics tell a much more instructive story about what's really going on in our labor market.
As I do monthly, here are the government reported unemployment rates and my adjusted rate based on demographics:
Asians: 3.1 percent
Down .6 percent
White: 3.5 percent
Down .2 percent
Hispanic: 4.8 percent
Down .3 percent
Black: 7.5 percent
Up .5 percent
Here are the adjusted rates:
Asians: 6 percent
White: 6.7 percent
Hispanic: 9.2 percent
Black: 14.4 percent
Solid progress seems to have been made against unemployment (demographically) -- until we look closer at the area of existing biggest need.
Despite strong progress being made with all other demographics in October - we saw a disconcerting uptick in black unemployment. It's a bit early to draw a conclusion but it's possible, likely even, that the lingering hurricane impact is hurting traditionally black communities/businesses the hardest. This would likely be Harvey impact centric.
Let's hope that the snap-back we saw in October's jobs generally continues to produce a delayed snap-back for black adults in November. Inside of an otherwise outstanding jobs report, this was the fly in the ointment.