Unemployment rate for black Americans rises sharply in March

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Data released Friday showed unemployment among black Americans rose sharply in March by the Department of Labor.

The black unemployment rate rose to 6.4% last month, up from 5.6% in February. This is higher than the overall unemployment rate, which fell slightly to 3.8% last month, and higher than the 3.4% unemployment rate among white Americans, which has remained stable since February.

When gender is taken into account, the unemployment rate for black women aged 20 and older surged to 5.6%, a sharp increase from 4.4% in February. The black male unemployment rate increased slightly from 6.1% to 6.2%.

“This is a worrying trend,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, noting that unemployment among black Americans has been rising steadily since December. “I would say it’s not alarming yet, but I think it’s something we really need to focus on in the coming months,” she added.

While March’s unemployment increase was driven primarily by a surge among black women, Gould noted that unemployment rates have increased for both men and women over the past four months. However, she also warned that monthly data on demographic groups can be very volatile in nature.

Last month, the labor force participation rate – the percentage of the population that is employed or actively looking for work – for black Americans fell slightly to 63.6%, down from 63.7% in February. For black women, the share dropped from 63.4% to 63%, while among black men, it dropped slightly from 69.8% to 69.6%.

“People are looking for more opportunities, but not everyone has access to them, and that’s why unemployment is rising,” Gould added.

In comparison, the overall U.S. labor market participation rate increased from 62.5% in February to 62.7% in March.

Black Americans are the group hardest hit by business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate among black workers peaked at 16.8% in 2020, which is higher than the overall unemployment rate high of 14.7% in April 2020.

The unemployment rate among Latinos fell to 4.5% from 5% last month. Similarly, Asia’s unemployment rate fell to 2.5% from 3.4% in February.

—CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.