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NewsFlash: September 5, 2008

Unemployment rises, African Americans hardest hit

“The engine of job growth is not merely stalled; it is operating in reverse, and the job market’s deterioration in August suggests these problems are deepening,” said senior economist Jared Bernstein in today’s Jobs Picture, a detailed analysis of the August jobs report from the BLS.

But as unemployment climbed to 6.1 percent for the nation as a whole, African Americans are experiencing an unemployment rate of 10.6 percent – the first time in three years that the rate has entered double digits, according to a supplemental analysis by Algernon Austin, director of EPI’s program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy. Austin notes that last month, the Hispanic unemployment rate was 8.0 percent.  Compared to last year’s 5.5 percent, there are almost 600,000 more Hispanics unemployed this August.

“There is a strong rationale for a second stimulus package, one directly targeted a job creation,” said Bernstein.
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