REP. MALONEY: AFRICAN AMERICAN WORKERS HIT HARD BY RECESSION

Washington, D.C. – Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its monthly jobs report for March.  Following a Congressional Hearing examining the report, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Chair of the Joint Economic Committee released the following statement in reaction to the report and the persistently bad news about the 15^th straight month of job losses and the negative effect on the African American community:

“Today’s unemployment numbers are grim, but they show the wisdom of Congress and the President’s agenda to rebuild our economy.   Both the Recovery Act and budget, passed just last night, are targeted at getting Americans back to work and making strategic investments to grow our economy.  African Americans have been hurt especially hard in this recession, the President and Congress have been working tirelessly to help people get back on their feet.”

Some quick facts from the March Jobs Report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

·         The unemployment rate for African American workers is now at 13.3 percent, up 5.4 percentage points from the start of the recession in December 2007. 

·         The share of African Americans with a job has dropped 3.7 percentage points over the recession to 54.1 percent.  The last time the employment to population ratio for African Americans was this low was April 1993. 

·         The unemployment rate for African American males 20 and over is 15.4 percent, 7.2 percentage points higher than at the start of the recession.  This means that almost 1 in 6 African American men, age 20 or over, is unemployed and actively searching for work.   And African American men are more likely to be unemployed for a longer period of time.  The median duration of unemployment for African American men is 17.0 weeks, much higher than the median duration of 12.6 weeks for white men.

·         The unemployment rate for African American women age 20 and over has risen 2.8 percentage points since the start of the recession to 9.9 percent.

·         Unemployment among minority teens is especially high – nearly 1 in 3 African American teens are unemployed, along with 1 in 4 Hispanic teens.  That compares with 1 in 5 for white teens.

The Joint Economic Committee, established under the Employment Act of 1946, was created by Congress to review economic conditions and to analyze the effectiveness of economic policy.

 www.jec.senate.gov

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