The Brian Mudd Show

The Brian Mudd Show

There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. That's Brian's mantra and what drives him to get beyond the headlines.Full Bio

 

Part 2: The demographics of the unemployed - 4-10-17:

Part 2: The demographics of the unemployed - 4-10-17:   

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: 3.3% (down .1%)  
  • White: 3.9% (down .2%)  
  • Hispanic: 5.1% (down .5%)  
  • Black: 8% (down .1%)  

Here are the adjusted rates:     

  • Asians: 6.5%  
  • White: 7.7%   
  • Hispanic: 10.1%   
  • Black: 15.8%   

Demographically the news was solid with regard to the breadth of the improvement in March. Every demographic saw real improvement in unemployment rates - most notably Hispanics which had a substantial improvement in their unemployment rate (about 10% decrease in just March). Despite employment progress for all other demographics, black adults unfortunately did see the least improvement. This illustrates why it's important to dive deeper into these numbers to see what's really going on. And it's clear that a lot of work needs to be done to improvement the labor market, and participation for especially black adults. 

In the third part of today's story we'll explore how much money we're making...


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