Black Unemployment Returns to Double White Rate Under Obama

Black Unemployment Returns to Double White Rate Under Obama

on Fri, 23 Aug 2013

Though black unemployment, at the end of the Bush administration, had broken a long-held pattern of being twice that of white unemployment, it has returned to its former trend under President Barack Obama. 

According to a Pew Research report, the unemployment rate among African-Americans is now at 13.4 percent.

The report is released as the 50^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech is about to be celebrated.

According to Pew:

Much has changed for African-Americans since the 1963 March on Washington (which, recall, was a march for ‘Jobs and Freedom’), but one thing hasn’t: The unemployment rate among blacks is about double that among whites, as it has been for most of the past six decades.

As Paul Bedard of the Washington Examinerreports:

The trend broke at the end of former President George W. Bush’s administration as the recession hit whites more, temporarily boosting their unemployment rate.

But as the recession has eased, whites have picked up more jobs. Currently, Pew said white unemployment is 6.7 percent, exactly half the black rate.

As Breitbart News reported Wednesday, Gallup showed a jump from a 7.7 percent overall unemployment rate on July 21^st to 8.9 percent on August 21^st. This increase represents an 18-month high.

In addition, Gallup showed a sharp increase in the number of underemployed. During the same period, the number of those with some work who are seeking more has jumped from 17.1 percent to 17.9 percent.