Job seekers attend the JobNewsUSA.com South Florida Job Fair at Amerant Bank Arena on June 26, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida.
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Data released Friday by the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rates for white, Black and Hispanic women rose in line with the overall trend in June.
The unemployment rate for white adult women rose to 3.1% in June, up from 3.0% the previous month. The unemployment rates for black women and Hispanic women rose as well, rising from 5.2% to 5.7% and 4.1% to 4.5%, respectively.
This trend is consistent with the overall unemployment rate, which rose slightly to 4.1% from 4.0% last month.
Meanwhile, unemployment rates for men fell across all three racial groups: for white men it fell from 3.4% to 3.2%, and for Hispanic men it fell from 4.7% to 4.2%. The unemployment rate for black men also fell from 6.4% to 6.1%, though that category still has the highest unemployment rate of any demographic group.
“Women have gained a lot from this pandemic and recovery and have experienced a lot of notable uplift. In terms of labor market employment, women have reached all-time highs. But we saw some softening among women in June and a corresponding uptick among men,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
However, Gould noted it was interesting that last month’s rise in female unemployment coincided with an increase in employment in health and social care, areas not traditionally thought of as male-dominated fields.
The unemployment rate for white workers overall remained steady at 3.5%. The unemployment rate for Hispanic workers fell from 5% to 4.9%, while the unemployment rate for black Americans rose from 6.1% to 6.3%, and the unemployment rate for Asian Americans rose from 3.1% to 4.1%. Unemployment rates for Asian workers were not available by gender.
Last month, the labor force participation rate — the percentage of the population who are employed or actively looking for work — rose to 62.6% from 62.5% in May.
While the labor force participation rate among white workers has remained stable, it has fallen among black workers from 62.9% to 62.7%, while rates for Asian and Hispanic workers have increased, from 65.3% to 65.9% and from 67.3% to 67.5%, respectively.
—CNBC’s Gabriel Cortez contributed to this report.