Tornado Alley (PROG)

[JimLur]

Black unemployment falls to second-lowest level on record in February

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/black-unemployment-falls-to-second-lowest-level-on-record-in-february/article/2651148

The unemployment rate for black Americans fell back down to an historic low in February, after spiking up in January.

Just 6.9 percent of black adults were unemployed in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the second-lowest such ratio since the agency has been keeping track.

The low mark was set in December, at 6.8 percent. Then, the rate spiked to 7.7 percent, but that increase proved short-lived.

President Trump has touted the fact that black unemployment has dipped so low on his watch, including during his State of the Union address.

When the black jobless rate hit the record low in January, though, the NAACP gave credit to the long-running recovery that began under former President Barack Obama, rather than to Trump specifically, and noted that blacks still suffer much higher rates of unemployment than whites.

Nevertheless, the recovery has also shrunk the unemployment gap between black and white Americans.

Hispanic workers, too, are currently enjoying historically low rates of unemployment. At 4.9 percent in February, Hispanic unemployment is just a tenth of a percentage point above the historic low.