All racial groups except white Americans experienced an increase in jobless rates in May.
- In May, the unemployment rate increased for all racial groups except white Americans.
- The unemployment rate for Black men increased from 5.2% to 6.4%, while the increase for Black women was less pronounced.
- The number of eligible adults searching for jobs decreased for white and Black workers, increased for Asian Americans, and remained unchanged for Hispanic workers.
Despite a rise in unemployment for all other racial groups, the unemployment rate for white Americans remained unchanged from April to May, as per data released by the Labor Department on Friday.
Despite a rise in jobless rates among all other demographic groups, white unemployment remained unchanged at 3.5% last month, which was lower than the overall unemployment rate of 4% from April to May.
The jobless rate for Black Americans increased to 6.1% from 5.6%, while it rose to 3.1% for Asian workers and 5% for Hispanic workers.
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, emphasized the importance of monitoring the situation with historically marginalized groups to ensure that the recovery is felt equitably.
Gould isn't concerned about the increase in jobless rates among specific groups, as she believes there is no significant deviation from existing trends.
The unemployment rate for Black men increased to 6.4% from 5.2%, while the rate for their female counterparts rose to 5.2% from 5%, according to Gould. The economist attributed this increase to labor force volatility and noted that the number has since returned to its earlier levels.
The labor force participation rate among white workers decreased slightly, from 62.3% to 62.2%.
The labor force participation rate for Black Americans decreased from 63.2% to 62.9%, while it rose from 64.7% to 65.3% for Asian Americans. Meanwhile, the metric remained unchanged at 67.3% for Hispanic workers.
— CNBC's Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.
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