Record US job losses in April have hit communities of color particularly hard with African American unemployment alone rising above the national rate, the White House said on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th May, 2020) Record US job losses in April have hit communities of color particularly hard with African American unemployment alone rising above the national rate, the White House said on Friday.
The United States lost a historic 20.5 million jobs last month as the novel coronavirus crisis bumped up the nation's unemployment rate by 10.3 percent to 14.7 percent, Labor Department data revealed earlier in the day.
"The April report also shows that the African American unemployment rate rose 10.0 percentage points to 16.7 percent, and that the Hispanic American unemployment rate rose 12.9 percentage points to 18.9 percent," the White House said in a statement.
These substantial increases "come after unemployment rates for both demographics reached historic lows in 2019," the statement added.
The White House did not say if the current jobless rate for African Americans and Hispanic Americans had rewritten the earlier lows.
Racial counts aside, those with lower education were also found to be most prone to job losses.
The White House said the unemployment rate for those without a high school diploma rose 14.4 percentage points to 21.2 percent in April. Those with only a high-school degree saw a 12.9 percentage point rise to 17.3 percent.
