Labor

Women, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans Reach Historic Unemployment Rates

Gold_bars | Circa May 2009 | By Osmar Valdebenito from Santiago, Chile (:baba:) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Women, African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans reached historic unemployment rates in September 2019, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.

In September, 136,000 jobs were added, according to the BLS report, about 6,000 more than in August. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate declined to 3.5% in September — the lowest seen since December 1969.

Women’s unemployment currently sits at 3.1%, a number that matches April women’s unemployment numbers.  Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in a statement that September’s women’s unemployment numbers match the lowest numbers during the Trump administration and that these are the lowest number for women’s unemployment since 1953.

The last time women’s unemployment reached such low numbers percent was October 1953, a Department of Labor spokesman confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Hispanic-Americans set a record low unemployment rate at 3.9% in September compared to 4.5% in September 2018, the jobs report shows.

African-American unemployment remained at a record low of 5.5%. These numbers compare to African-American unemployment rate of 6% in September 2018 and are impacted by unemployment numbers for black women, the August jobs report shows.

Scalia also announced that record employment numbers have been reached for persons with disabilities. A Department of Labor spokeswoman confirmed to the DCNF that the unemployment rate for persons with disabilities hit 6.1% in September, a series low since June 2008.

“It is welcome news that Americans with disabilities set a new record low unemployment rate, as we observe National Disability Employment Awareness Month this October,” Scalia said in the statement.