Part 2: The demographics of the unemployed for November 6th:
Bottom Line: The demos of the unemployed tell a much more instructive 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 demographics:
Asians: 3.1% (down .6%)
White: 3.5% (down .2%)
Hispanic: 4.8% (down.3%)
Black: 7.5% (up .5%)
Here are the adjusted rates:
Asians: 6%
White: 6.7%
Hispanic: 9.2%
Black: 14.4%
The news was really good with solid progress being made against unemployment demographically until we look closer at the area of existing biggest need. Despite strong progress being made with all other demographics in October - we saw a disconcerting uptick in black unemployment. It's a bit early to draw a conclusion but it's possible, likely even, that the lingering hurricane impact is hurting traditionally black communities/businesses the hardest. This would likely be Harvey impact centric. Let's hope that the snap-back we saw in October's jobs generally continues to produce a delayed snap-back for black adults in November. Inside of an otherwise outstanding jobs report, this was the fly in the ointment.
In the third part of today's employment story we'll explore how much more money we're making...