Every month, the U.S. Department of Labor releases a Jobs Report. In this report, the Labor Department evaluates how the economy is doing based on the number of jobs added across various industries. The report for March 2024 was recently released.
Economists had been forecasting a solid report but were still surprised by the growth. The March report showed that the economy added 303,000 new jobs, exceeding economists’ expectations. Although this seems great on the surface, there are still significant concerns.
Many economists see that most of the jobs being added are concentrated in small industries. Also, with more potential employees demanding fair compensation, many companies are beginning to slow and freeze hiring. Moreover, even as the total number of jobs added to the economy seems high, not all segments of the population are reaping the benefits.
The Black population saw a jump in March unemployment rate in March, from 5.6% to 6.4%. Black women accounted for most of this increase. These numbers have been steadily increasing since December.
While the overall unemployment rate fell in March, and more jobs were added to the economy, Black Americans are still underemployed indicating the numbers are not as positive as they appear to be on the surface.