Unemployment rate jumps more than a percentage point for Black women in November

The unemployment rate climbed sharply for Black women in November.

The overall jobless rate edged up slightly last month to 4.2% from 4.1% in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. But some groups experienced more significant rises in unemployment relative to others.

Black women experienced the most significant increase, with the jobless rate surging to 6% from 4.9%. In comparison, the jobless rate for white women ticked up slightly to 3.4%, compared to 3.3% in October.

“The increase for Black women has been more pronounced than for white women,” said Kevin Rinz, senior fellow and research advisor at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

Black workers as a group also saw the highest unemployment rate last month, which jumped to 6.4% from 5.7%. For Black men, the jobless rate hit 6%, but it held steady at 3.5% for white men.

“This a broader picture of a gradually cooling labor market that is still relatively strong by recent historical standards, but less able to deliver the gains for more marginalized workers that we saw immediately after the pandemic,” Rinz added, while highlighting the volatility in month-to-month data.

The overall labor force participation rate — a measure of the population employed or seeking work — edged lower to 62.5%. For Black women, the figure slipped to 62.3% in November, compared with 62.6% in the prior month. The rate dipped to 68.7% last month, down from 69.3% among Black men.

Other demographic groups that also experienced a rise in unemployment last month include Hispanic men. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.4% in November, up from 4% in October.