The demographics of the unemployed – June 2019
Bottom Line: The demos of the unemployed tell a much more specific story about what's really going on in our labor market. As I do monthly, here are the government reported unemployment rates and my adjusted rate based on ethnicity:
- Asians: 2.5%
- White: 3.3%
- Hispanic: 4.2%
- Black: 6.2%
And by gender:
- Women – 3.2%
- Men – 3.3%
Here are the adjusted rates once you factor in the long-term unemployed, underemployed and marginally attached workers:
- Asians: 4.9% (higher)
- White: 6.5% (higher)
- Hispanic: 8.3% (lower)
- Black: 12.2% (lower)
The demographic story is historic for a second straight month. The real Hispanic and Black unemployment rates have both hit new all-time lows. In my story, The Real Unemployment Rate, I demonstrated how the “real” unemployment rate fell and the beneficiaries were hundreds of thousands of part-time employees who were promoted into full-time positions. By breaking down the demographics we can see that those most positively impacted were minorities. This is truly great news within what looked like a poor report on the surface.
We’re also continuing to see female unemployment rates lower than male rates also demonstrating the progress made on that front as well. Still, we continue to see the disconnects in the labor market based on demographics and it paints a picture of where and with whom we generally need to be focusing efforts going forward. Hopefully what happened in May with minority progress continues into the summer.