A job seeker holds a flyer during the annual Bronx Job Fair & Expo held by the New York Public Library at the Bronx Library Center on September 6, 2024 in the Bronx, New York City.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The unemployment rate for black women fell in December, following a surprising rise in November.
Overall, nonfarm payrolls far exceeded expectations in December, increasing by 256,000 jobs in the month, compared to economists’ expectations of a 155,000-job gain, according to Dow Jones. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, demonstrating the resilience of the labor market. The statistics have fueled expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve may cut interest rates much less than expected this year.
The unemployment rate for black women fell to 5.4% in December. This is down from 5.9% in November, when the unemployment rate for the same cohort rose by almost 1 percentage point. The labor force participation rate, which measures the number of people employed or looking for work, rose to 62.4%.
The overall unemployment rate for black workers also fell in December, dropping to 6.1%. In contrast, it was 6.4% in November and 5.7% in October.
“There was concern that black unemployment was going to rise,” said Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, about November’s rise. “It’s still quite high compared to other groups, which is still a concern, but there’s nothing particularly troubling about this report.”
Black men also made strides, with the unemployment rate dropping to 5.6% in December from 6% the previous month. The labor force participation rate for this cohort inched down to 68.2% from 68.7% last month.
The unemployment rate for Hispanic men also improved in December, falling from 4.4% to 4% as labor force participation improved.
The unemployment rate for Hispanic women edged up to 5.3% from 5.2% last month, but Gould said the change was within the margin of error. “There’s a lot of variation in the data,” she says. “I would say that the situation has remained mostly stable.”
By comparison, the overall unemployment rate for white workers fell to 3.6% in December. This is down from 3.8%. The unemployment rate for white men fell to 3.3% from 3.5% last month, while the unemployment rate for white women remained flat at 3.4%.
