Black unemployment falls to lowest level on record

Black unemployment fell to 6.8 percent in December, the lowest ever recorded by the U.S. Labor Department since it began tracking the black unemployment rate in 1972.

Economists say it’s a sign the recovery from the Great Recession is finally starting to help a wider swath of the U.S. population.

During the aftermath of the financial crisis, black unemployment soared to 16.8 percent in 2010, meaning more than one out of every six African-Americans was looking for a job but could not find one. The rate has steadily declined since, breaking the prior all-time low of 7 percent that was set in 2000 during Dot-com boom.

“6.8 percent unemployment rate for African-Americans is lowest on record. Good news, except pretty bad news that this is the best ever,” tweeted Dean Baker, an economist at the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The white unemployment rate is 3.7 percent.

The black-white gap in hiring and pay has existed for decades, with the black unemployment rate typically more than double that of whites. But the gap has narrowed slightly to 1.85 times higher unemployment for blacks instead of 2 times more.

African-Americans face a number of barriers to employment, including biases from recruiters.

Beyond unemployment, AfricanAmericans lag far behind whites on pay, wealth and home ownership.

“If you are black and a college graduate, your net worth is still typically two-thirds that of whites who dropped out of high school,” says Darrick Hamilton, an economist at The New School who studies race and opportunity in America.

Wages, however, continue to be stagnant, especially for African Americans. The median income for black households is still lower than it was in 2000, according to U.S. Census data.