- Speaking at a Saturday news conference, President Donald Trump commemorated the US economy for seeing “a new record for jobs” for people of color.
- But the monthly jobs report the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday said the unemployment rate for the Black population “showed little change.”
- The white and Black unemployment rates differ by more than 5 percentage points — the widest gap recorded in the coronavirus pandemic recession to date.
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In a news conference from his private New Jersey golf club on Saturday, President Donald Trump lauded the US economy where people of color “set a record for new jobs.”
But federal data released Friday show that the unemployment rate for Black people has marginally changed, and white people are by far the most employed among all racial groups in the country.
Trump ended his press conference announcing several executive actions by commemorating how “We created the greatest economy in the history of the world.”
The president claimed the US economy saw the “best employment numbers for African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans,” and that the Black, Latino, and Asian population “just set a new record for jobs.”
“We’re very proud of what’s happening,” Trump said.
The monthly jobs report for July that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday said the jobless rate for Black Americans “showed little change.” The Black unemployment rate decreased by less than 1% in the last month, from 15.4% in June to 14.6% in July.
For Asian and Hispanic Americans, the BLS noted declines in unemployment rates from June to July of 13.8% to 12% and 14.5% to 12.9%, respectively. Even with the decline, both populations have an unemployment rate that is higher than the overall US unemployment rate, which fell from 11.1% to 10.2% last month, whereas the white population’s unemployment rate falls below the overall number.
Meanwhile, white unemployment declined from 10.1% to 9.2% in the previous month. The gap between white and Black unemployment rates exceeds 5 percentage points — the widest racial disparity in employment recorded during the coronavirus pandemic recession to date.
Overall, the US added 1.8 million jobs in July, the third month of gains since the coronavirus pandemic sparked record payroll losses in April.
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