In August, the average Black unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent, showing a slight decrease from the July rate of 5.8 percent but a slight uptick from the record-breaking low of the 4.7 percent rate in April.
White House officials attribute the low unemployment rate for Black Americans to President Biden’s economic policies. In remarks made on Friday, Biden mentioned that America has added 13.5 million jobs since he took office and that the U.S. has the lowest inflation rate among world economies.
However, while the current Black unemployment rate is down, it’s still significantly higher than the overall average which is around 3.8 percent – and there’s no guarantee that rates will stay at these levels.
“I think the labor market is still strong but is clearly slowing,” Harry Holzer, professor of public policy at Georgetown University and senior fellow in economics studies at Brookings, told theGrio. “If it slows further, Black unemployment will likely rise.”
Other experts say AI may become a force in the future that will also impact jobs and the labor market. However, according to the White House, the economy is in an upswing as Biden boasted, among his remarks on Friday, that America “has the strongest economy in the world.”