The unemployment rate for two U.S. groups that are often the most vulnerable to job loss in a softening economy – Blacks and teenagers – surged to the highest levels in more than four years in November, Labor Department data showed on Tuesday.
The jobless rate for Blacks hit 8.3% in November, the highest reading since August 2021, after standing at 7.5% in September, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The rate for teens shot up to 16.3%, the highest level since August 2020, from 13.2% in September.
The figures were included in the employment report for November that had been delayed by the 43-day U.S. government shutdown in October and November. Unemployment rate data for October was not collected because of the shutdown.
The overall U.S. unemployment rate rose as well, climbing two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.6% last month, the highest level since September 2021, but the outsized jumps in the rate for Blacks and teens caught the eye of economists as a possible warning sign.
“The unemployment rate rose to the highest since 2021. It’s risen considerably more for Black … workers and for teenagers, demographic groups whose unemployment rates tend to be leading indicators of the outlook for the broader job market,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank.
The jump in the rate for Blacks was led by a near-doubling of joblessness among Black teens to 30.7% – the highest level since May 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the jobless rate for Black men rose to 7.5%, the highest level since September 2021, but the rate for Black women fell for the first time since June to 7.1%.
The increase in Black joblessness afflicts a racial demographic that had turned more toward President Donald Trump and his economic message in the 2024 presidential election than in either of his prior two runs for the White House. Trump captured 15% of the Black vote in 2024 – including 21% of Black men – almost double the share he carried in 2020.
(Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Paul Simao)
