Part 2 - The demographics of the unemployed – November
Bottom Line: The demos of the unemployed 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: 3.2% (improved)
- White: 3.3% (flat)
- Hispanic: 4.4% (improved)
- Black: 6.2% (up .2%)
Here are the adjusted rates once you factor in the long-term unemployed, underemployed and marginally attached workers:
- Asians: 6.4%
- White: 6.6%
- Hispanic: 8.8%
- Black: 12.4%
Asian unemployment is once again the lowest of any group, after a brief month with white unemployment being the lowest for the first time in over a decade. We’re experiencing another record low unemployment rate for Hispanics as well. Unfortunately, we didn’t see follow-through for black adults this month and are slightly above the April record low unemployment rate.
Here are all of the current groups experiencing record low unemployment rates right now:
- Women
- Hispanics
- Foreign-born adults
- Native Americans
Another bonus is the length of time out of work for minorities has never been lower in recorded American history.
It'd be easy to overlook news like this when just looking at basic averages and numbers for the report. Obviously, we continue to see the disconnects in the labor market based on demographics and it paints a picture of where and with whom we generally need to be focusing efforts going forward. In the third part of today's employment story, we'll explore how much more money we're making.
Photo by: ABDELHAK SENNA/AFP/Getty Images