Unemployment inches lower for African Americans

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Unemployment inches lower for African Americans

By Qcity Staff – August 5, 2011

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The latest employment report held a bit of good news for African Americans – but only a bit.

Unemployment for black, still the highest for all ethnic groups, fell to 15.9 percent in July from 16.2 percent in June, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Overall, the nation’s unemployment rate was virtually unchanged at 9.1 percent.

The unemployment rate for whites was unchanged at 8.1 percent. Unemployment for Asians was 7.7 percent, while Hispanics were unemployed at a rate of 11.3 percent.

Employers added 117,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said. The figure was the best in three months, and the job totals for May and June were revised up.

Retailers, factories and health care firms were among the many industries that added workers.

The jobs report surpassed most economists' expectations. They had forecast a net gain of 90,000 jobs. But other recent data show the U.S. economy remains weak and isn't generating enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate.

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said the latest unemployment numbers, while encouraging, remained “unacceptably high.”