While the U.S. economy added 195,000 jobs in June, which was far higher than the 165,000 predicted by economists, the black unemployment rate climbed from 13.5 percent to 13.7 percent, according to U.S. Labor Department figures.
The overall national unemployment rate held steady at 7.6 percent.
The jobs number was also higher than the 188,000 predicted for June by ADP National Employment Report.
“It’s quite encouraging that the job market is navigating through the fiscal headwinds — I have to say quite gracefully,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, which co-produces the ADP report. “I would have expected that by this time the fiscal headwinds of the tax increases and government spending cuts, including the sequester, would be doing more damage to the job market.”
According to the Labor Department, for the week ending June 29 a total of 343,000 people filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 348,000.
Bob Johnson, chairman of the RLJ Companies and founder of Black Entertainment Television, continued his call on the private sector to do more to lower the African-American unemployment rate, which is nearly double the national rate.
“Demographic trends clearly indicate that minorities are quickly becoming the largest employee pool and consumer base in the United States and with this, corporate America should view diversity as a business imperative, no less important than financial performance, succession planning and shareholder relations,” Johnson told BET.com. “I am encouraging companies to voluntarily adopt a policy that I call the RLJ Rule, which, if implemented properly, is designed to further enhance a company’s already established commitment to diversity and inclusion.”
A report several weeks ago indicated that more Americans are quitting their jobs, suggesting many are growing more confident in the job market.
The Labor Department said the number of people who quit their jobs in April jumped 7.2 percent to 2.25 million. That’s just below February’s level, which was the highest in 4½ years.
