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The unemployment rate for Black Americans fell in April, bucking overall trends, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.
Black Americans remain the racial group with the highest unemployment rate in the United States, even after the unemployment rate for that group fell from 6.4% in March to 5.6% last month. Still, the numbers are notable when compared to the overall unemployment rate (which rose from 3.8% to 3.9% in April) and to other racial demographics whose unemployment rates rose last month.
White Americans feel the unemployment rate has increased slightly, from 3.4% to 3.5%. Unemployment rates for Asian workers and Hispanic workers rose from 2.5% to 2.8% and from 4.5% to 4.8%, respectively.
However, the unemployment rate for black Americans has been markedly volatile, rising from 5.6% in February to 6.4% in March.
“Fortunately, for a variety of reasons, this number has gone down. I think this tells us that last month was just a statistical change that happened due to the small sample size. It’s very encouraging that it went down in January,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “And we’re seeing it happen to Black men and Black women alike.”
Gould added that he continues to keep a close eye on the unemployment rate for black Americans, which rose for four straight months through April. She said this is an important metric to watch, or a canary in the coal mine, because historically marginalized groups are often the first to feel the effects of a weak labor market.
The labor force participation rate for black workers gradually declined from 63.6% to 63.2%.
On the other hand, the overall labor force participation rate remained unchanged at 62.7%. This measure rose from 64.1% to 64.7% for Asian Americans and from 66.8% to 67.3% for Hispanic workers.
Gould pointed to another positive trend. The employment rate for “prime-age workers,” or people aged 25 to 54, rose in April.
—CNBC’s Gabriel Cortez contributed to this report.
