Silhouettes of commuters and tourists as they make their way through Grand Central Terminal in New York City during the morning rush hour.
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The US unemployment rate for black and Hispanic women rose sharply last month, while overall unemployment in the country remained stagnant.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that the unemployment rate in the overall job market stood at 3.6%, as the economy added 390,000 jobs. That unemployment rate was in line with April, and job growth surpassed the Dow Jones estimate of 328,000.
However, the unemployment rate among black and Hispanic women over the age of 20 rose sharply to 5.9% and 4.7%, up from 5% and 3.8% in April.
“These inequalities absolutely existed before the pandemic,” said Alice Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “When we talk about returning to pre-pandemic levels, of course, we’re getting pretty close to that, but it’s just those inequalities that we had in the pre-pandemic labor market, and it’s pretty much right now. not good.”
White women’s unemployment rate was almost half that of black women, rising just 0.1% compared to a month earlier. Unemployment rose for women (3.4%), black Americans (6.2%) and Hispanic Americans (4.3%) overall but fell for Asian Americans (2.4%).
Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Women’s Policy Research Institute, said that even during the Great Recession, unemployment rates for black and Latino workers had increased, as did the overall rate.
“This growth and recovery isn’t reaching everyone, and it’s not going to reach everyone unless we address those gaps and help these workers,” said Katherine Zikuhr, labor market policy analyst at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Don’t support improving your systems and policies.” , “Actually, the time to do that is now because we are in this recovery period. When things are going on it is time to plan for the next upheaval.”
Gould noted the importance of looking at long-term jobs data to determine trends because the numbers can be volatile in the short term. Some groups are performing better than others month after month, but the longer-term trend is “moving in the right direction,” she said.
While the unemployment rate for women rose, labor force participation rose, a promising sign that more women are re-entering the workforce and finding many jobs, she said.
Across demographic groups, labor force participation rates have risen or stagnated, meaning people are returning even as COVID-19 and supplies remain in place. Labor shortage claims are “overflowing,” Gold said.
Black women’s participation rates among Hispanic women rose to 62.7% and 59.6%, up from 61.7% and 59% in April. Across demographic groups, the overall rate increased to 62.3%. Hispanic and black workers overall claimed higher participation rates than white workers.
“The pandemic, while it remains a factor in people choosing how they re-enter the workforce, is not as important as it was in 2020,” Mason said.
— Gabriel Cortes contributed reporting