Unemployment Jumps for Black and Hispanic Women

Although the U.S. unemployment rate held steady in May, it jumped much higher among black and Hispanic women and teenagers, data from the Department of Labor showed Friday.

The unemployment rate among black women over 20 rose to 5.9 percent from 5 percent a month earlier. The total number of black women counted as unemployed jumped from 533,000 to 629,000.

The unemployment rate for black teenagers increased to 18.3 percent from 15.2 percent. The total number of unemployed black teenagers increased from 104,000 to 140,000.

The unemployment rate among Hispanic women over 20 jumped to 4.7 percent from 3.8 percent in April. The number of unemployed Hispanic women rose from 474,000 to 591,000.

The unemployment rate for Hispanic teenagers also increased, rising to 12.2 percent from 11.5 percent. The total number of unemployed Hispanic teenagers rose by 10,000 to 175,000.

The unemployment rate for white teenagers, by contrast, fell to nine percent from 9.8 percent. The white adult male unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.1 percent and white women unemployment rate ticked up to 2.9 percent from 2.8 percent. Black adult male unemployment fell to 5.7 percent from 6.1 percent. The Asian unemployment rate fell to 2.4 percent from 3.1 percent.

While the unemployment rate for black women, Hispanic women, and black teenagers moved up, so did the overall employment for each of those demographic categories. The total number of black women employed increased from 10 million to 10.1 million and the participation rate rose one point to 62.7 percent. Black teenage employment rose to 622,000 from 580,000 and the participation rate rose to 30.8 percent from 27.7 percent.  The number of Hispanic women employed moved up to 18.576 million to 18.876 million and the participation rate rose to 59.6 percent from 59.0 percent.

The participation rate of Hispanic teenagers, however, fell to 33.5 percent from 34 percent and the number employed dipped to 1.252 million from 1.275 million. The overall size of the teenage Hispanic labor force also declined, dropping from 1.441 million to 1.427 million. The white teenager participation rate and workforce size also declined.