A job seeker holds flyers during the New York Public Library's annual Bronx Job Fair and Expo at the Bronx Library Center in the Bronx, New York, on September 6, 2024.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The unemployment rate for black women fell in December, after a worrying increase in the number in November.
Overall, nonfarm payrolls rose much more than expected in December, rising by 256,000 in the month and beating economists' expectations for a gain of 155,000 per Dow. The unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, an indication of the flexibility of the labor market. The data reinforced belief that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates much less than expected this year.
For black women, the unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in December. This is down from 5.9% in November, when the unemployment rate rose by about a percentage point for the group. The labor force participation rate, which measures the number of residents working or seeking work, rose to 62.4%.
Among Black workers overall, the unemployment rate also fell in December, falling to 6.1%. This compares to a rate of 6.4% in November and 5.7% in October.
“There were some concerns about higher black unemployment,” said Elise Gould, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, referring to the rise in November. “It's still much higher than other groups — and that's still a concern — but there's nothing in this report that stands out as particularly problematic.”
Black men also made big strides, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.6% in December from 6% the previous month. The group's labor force participation rate fell to 68.2% last month from 68.7%.
Hispanic men also saw their unemployment rate improve in December, falling to 4% from 4.4% as labor force participation improved.
Although the unemployment rate among Hispanic women rose to 5.3% last month from 5.2%, Gould noted that this shift is within the margin of error. “There is a lot of volatility in terms of the data,” she said. “I would say things have stayed mostly steady.”
By comparison, the unemployment rate fell to 3.6% in December among white workers overall. This is less than 3.8%. Among white men, the unemployment rate fell to 3.3% last month from 3.5%, but the figure held steady at 3.4% for white women.
