North Carolina ranks fourth in the nation for African-American unemployment and one in six black workers continue to be unemployed, according to a recent report.
In addition, the N.C. Division of Employment Security released a report this month painting a bleak unemployment forecast.
The 2013 Economic Policy Institute report, Unemployment Rates are Projected to Remain High for Whites, Latinos, and African Americans throughout 2013, shows fourth-quarter unemployment rates in North Carolina were 9.2 percent overall.
This compares to 17.3 percent for African-Americans, 6.7 percent for whites, 7.4 percent for Hispanics and 7.8 percent nationally.
Fourth-quarter unemployment rates for 2007 in the state were 8.1 percent for African-Americans, 4 percent for whites and 4.9 percent overall.
A summary of the report was written by Algernon Austin, who directs the EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy.
Austin stated in his conclusion the focus should be on heavy investment in infrastructure improvements, rather than deficits, to stimulate the economy and create jobs for minorities.
“Policymakers need to focus on jobs now,” he said, “and on deficits only after we have a strong economy.”
Total unemployment rates don’t tell the whole story. This month’s state figures show 20,000 workers have dropped out of the labor system, including 15,000 people who gave up searching for jobs.
“The unemployment rate is dropping because jobless folks are giving up on finding work and dropping out of the labor force,” said Allan Freyer, policy analyst with the NC Budget & Tax Center, “not because we’re experiencing significant and meaningful job creation.”
As a result of these changes, the labor force — the pool of prime age workers who either have a job or want one — is now at the lowest level since July 2012, erasing almost nine months worth of gains. And the total number of employed people in North Carolina also dropped to the lowest levels since October 2012, suggesting that North Carolina's economy is continuing to struggle in generating long-term sustainable job creation.
But the ratio of blacks to whites in unemployment has remained about the same for the last 50 years.
African-Americans have consistently experienced an unemployment rate about twice that of whites, according to EPI’s 2012 report, For African Americans, 50 years of high unemployment.
Census Bureau data show that trend exists back to 1960, the report states.
“While whites have experienced periods of high unemployment during the 1970s, early 1980s, and in the past few years,” the report states, “their highest rates are in the range of the lowest unemployment rates for African Americans in the last 50 years.”
Several factors are mentioned for the disparity, including federal and state budget cuts disproportionately affecting African-American and Hispanic workers, public sector job losses affecting more African-Americans and the recession hitting African-American communities harder with declining industries, particularly manufacturing.
North Carolina has the second-highest rate of manufacturing job loss since 1995 among all the states from which the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey data are available.
Other factors include age — the white labor force is older, education and geography.
White unemployment peaked at 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. African-American unemployment ranged around 17-20 percent throughout the recession and peaked at 20.1 percent.
Of the 24 states with a high enough black population for data, Michigan ranks No. 1 in the nation for African-American unemployment, followed by New Jersey and Illinois. Louisiana ranks No. 24.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
Breakout box:
North Carolina unemployment statistics:
n The unemployment rate of African-Americans is 17.3 percent — more than two and a half times that of whites (6.7 percent)
n North Carolina has the fourth-highest African-American unemployment rate of 24 states with large enough African-American populations to track with quarterly Current Population Survey unemployment data
n Three groups — all workers, white workers and African-American workers — have higher unemployment rates than the national rate for the same group
n Although the unemployment rate of Hispanic workers has remained markedly lower than that of African-American workers — 7.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 — it is still higher than the 6.7 percent rate of white workers
Source: Economic Policy Institute