Jobless black people are taking full-time work at a higher rate than unemployed whites, amid a more favorable economy for a population whose prospects have historically been dimmer than for other races.
Why it matters: The data, reflected in the chart above, suggest a greater willingness by jobless black people to accept relatively low wages, while many whites continue to sit out the sizzling economy.
The 3.7% U.S. unemployment rate is at a whopping 49-year low, according to the September jobs report released today by the government. It was the 96th straight month of job gains, a new record.
Among black people, the unemployment rate ticked down to 6% from 6.3% the previous month. And here’s another, less-talked about statistic:
The share of the employed black population is converging closer to whites than it’s been since the government began tracking the metric in 1972.
www.axios.com/jobless-blacks-jumping-faster-into-workforce-8b5d4291-df70-4f9d-ad0f-10df94f1f098.html