Black unemployment rose sharply in February

The unemployment rate last month for African Americans reached the highest rate since June 1993, according to government data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics maintains black unemployment data back to 1972 on its Web site, and the records indicate that the rate reached its lowest level on record in April 2000 when it dropped to 7.0 percent, a figure still significantly higher than the 3.8 percent overall unemployment rate at the time.

The new numbers also show a growing gender gap between black men and women in the workforce. The unemployment rate for black men last month was 16.3 percent while it was only 10.8 percent for black women. The 5.5 percent gap between black men and women marks a dramatic rise over the past year. Last year at this time, the difference was only 1.4 percent.

The unemployment rate for black teenagers (ages 16-19) was 38.8 percent last month, more than double the white teenage rate of 19.1 percent. And the numbers were not much better for young black adults in the workforce. The black unemployment rate for 20-24-year-olds (non seasonally adjusted) was 22.8 percent, almost twice as high as the 12.1 percent rate for whites in the same age group.

Racial disparities continued to the next age bracket, where black unemployment reached 16.7 percent for 25-29-year-olds but only 9.9 percent for whites in the same age group. The numbers were non seasonally adjusted.

In the general population, non-farm payroll employment fell sharply in February, as unemployment jumped half a percentage point from 7.6 to 8.1 percent. Job losses were described as "large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors."

The number of unemployed persons increased by 851,000 to 12.5 million in February. Five million people have become unemployed in the past year and the unemployment rate has risen by 3.3 percentage points, the government said.

"The U.S. economy continues to hemorrhage jobs at monthly rates not seen in six decades," the Wall Street Journal reported. The report indicated "that there's still no end in sight to the severe recession that has already cost the U.S. over four million jobs," wrote Journal reporter Brian Blackstone.

Black Unemployment Rate from 1992-2009