One group that has not enjoyed the drop of national unemployment to 4.3% is black Americans. According to the May unemployment report, the jobless rate among black Americans was 7.5%.

The contrast between the white and Asian populations compared to black Americans is even more stark. White unemployment was 3.7% in May. Among Asians, it was 3.6%. This means black Americans are roughly twice as likely as Asians and whites to be unemployed.

The unemployment rate among black Americans between 16 and 19 years old is staggering at 27.3%. The comparable number among whites is 11.4%.

A look at the overall “Employment Situation Summary” for May:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 138,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 4.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in health care and mining.

Household Survey Data

The unemployment rate, at 4.3 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 6.9 million, changed little in May. Since January, the unemployment rate has declined by 0.5 percentage point, and the number of unemployed has decreased by 774,000.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Whites edged down to 3.7 percent in May. The jobless rates for Blacks (7.5 percent), Asians (3.6 percent), and Hispanics (5.2 percent), as well as those for adult men (3.8 percent), adult women (4.0 percent), and teenagers (14.3 percent), showed little or no change.

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs declined by 211,000 to 3.3 million in May. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged over the month at 1.7 million and accounted for 24.0 percent of the unemployed.

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