Black unemployment nearly double White joblessness as overall rate falls

 June was the highest rate of unemployment for Black workers since last August, when it hit 6.4%. 

Unemployment rose for all demographic groups last August, but Black workers were the only group whose labor force participation fell. 

Since April, the number of unemployed in the country has increased by 300,000, with Black workers accounting for the vast majority with 267,000 job losses, Bloomberg reported.  

The unemployment rate also rose for Black workers in May to 5.6% from April. 

"If the employment level for Black workers has gone down pretty significantly for the last three months, then that is a red flag," Carmen Sanchez Cumming, a researcher with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth told CNBC.

Black employment has decreased by 3% over the last three months. 

She said higher unemployment is a symptom of businesses reaching employment levels similar to before the coronavirus pandemic after scrambling to rehire workers when the economy began reopening. 

Black workers are also more likely to be fired when the economy slows, Bloomberg reported, citing research. 

"If conditions continue to weaken, or even accelerate, the gains won by Black workers and other vulnerable groups could diminish quickly," William Rodgers, director of the St. Louis Fed’s Institute of Economic Equity, told Bloomberg. 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/black-unemployment-nearly-double-white-joblessness-overall-rate-falls