The sharp drop in U.S. unemployment in August was led by huge declines in unemployment among black men and Hispanic women.
Overall unemployment in the U.S. fell 1.8 percent points, from 10.2 percent to 8.4 percent, according to data released Friday. That was much better than the decline to 9.8 percent forecast by economists.
The biggest decline in unemployment was among Hispanic women, who saw their unemployment rate fall from 14 percent a month to 10.5 percent, a three and a half percentage point decline.
Black men also experienced a sizable decline. Their unemployment rate fell three percentage points, from 15.2 to 12.2 percent.
White women experienced a 2.3 percentage point drop in unemployment, from 9.6 percent to 7.3 percent.
These topped the gains for white men. White men saw their unemployment rate fall 1.4 percentage points, from 8.3 to 6.9 percent, less than the overall gain for the country.
The results undermine the charges made by Joe Biden and other critics of the president that the improvements in the economy are only accruing to a narrow swathe of Americans.