Latino And Black Unemployment Rates Fall At Faster Clip, Boosting Obama's Election Chances

10/05/2012

While Friday's news that the overall unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 percent generated headlines and unfounded conservative allegations that the monthly jobs report had been rendered rosy in a conspiracy to improve Obama's election chances, two little-reported measures do indicate that Obama's odds may be improving.

The nation's Latino and black unemployment rates -- both so critically elevated since the recession began that they have together kept the nation's overall unemployment rate far above a level most economists consider healthy -- also declined. In fact, Latino and black unemployment fell at a sharper clip than did that of white workers and the total workforce nearly reaching multi-year lows.

In September, 9.4 percent of Latino workers, 2.3 million men and women, remained jobless. That's down from the 10.1 percent or 2.45 million workers who were unable to find jobs the month before. The September jobs report brought Latino unemployment near a level unseen since 2008.

Black workers saw even bigger jobs gains. In September, 13.4 percent of black workers, or 2.44 million people, remained out of work. That's an improvement over the 14.5 percent of black workers, or 2.68 million black men and women who sought work in August but were unable to find it. September job gains pushed black unemployment down, quite close, to a level unseen since 2009.

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