A job applicant holds a flyer during the New York Public Library’s annual Bronx Career Fair and Expo at the Bronx Library Center in the Bronx, New York, U.S., Friday, September 6, 2024.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The unemployment rate for black women fell in December, following an alarming rise in the unemployment rate for black women in November.
Overall, nonfarm payrolls grew much more than expected in December, adding 256,000 jobs for the month, beating economists’ forecast of 155,000, according to Dow Jones data. The unemployment rate dropped to 4.1%, indicating that the labor market is flexible. The data fueled belief that the Fed could cut interest rates far less than expected this year.
For black women, the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in December. That’s down from 5.9% in November, when the unemployment rate for this group rose by nearly a percentage point. The labor force participation rate, which tracks people who are employed or looking for work, edged up to 62.4%.
Overall, the unemployment rate among black workers also fell in December, to 6.1%. In comparison, growth rates in November and October were 6.4% and 5.7% respectively.
“There are concerns about rising black unemployment,” Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said of November’s rise in unemployment. “It’s still significantly higher than other groups — it’s still is a concern – but nothing in this report appears to be particularly problematic.”
Black men also made strides, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.6% in December from 6% a month earlier. The labor force participation rate for this group fell slightly to 68.2% from 68.7% last month.
As the labor force participation rate improved, the unemployment rate among Hispanic men also improved in December, falling to 4% from 4.4%.
Although the unemployment rate for Latina women edged up last month from 5.2% to 5.3%, Gould noted that the shift was within the margin of error. “There’s a lot of volatility in the data,” she said. “I would say the situation remains largely stable.”
In comparison, the overall unemployment rate for white workers fell to 3.6% in December. lower than 3.8%. The unemployment rate for white men fell from 3.5% to 3.3% last month, but the unemployment rate for white women held steady at 3.4%.
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