While analysts are looking at the June jobs report and noting that it didn’t budge the country’s 8.2 percent unemployment rate, the unemployment rate for African Americans did budge in June: It went up nearly a full percentage point.
But observers say that although the unemployment rate for blacks stands at 14.4 percent, almost a point higher than the 13.6 percent rate for May and nearly double the white rate of 7.4 percent (and much higher than the Hispanic rate of 11 percent), there is a sliver lining: The black rate has risen not because more blacks are out of work but because more have decided to look for work.
The black unemployment rate has been roughly double that of whites since the government started tracking the figures in 1972.
The jobs numbers have become a major issue in the presidential campaign, as Republican challenger Mitt Romney tries to use them as an indication that President Obama has failed to lead the economy effectively. Romney might be tempted use the black unemployment numbers as an opportunity to drive a wedge between Obama and the black community—but considering Obama’s overwhelming black support, that is unlikely.
