Study: Unemployment gap between whites, minorities widens

When it comes to unemployment, the gap between whites and minorities is growing, according to a new report released Thursday by the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute (pdf). While unemployment has held steady at around 10 percent nationwide the past three months, average unemployment is projected to hit nearly 14 percent among Hispanics and 17 percent among African Americans by the start of the third quarter this year, according to the report.

EPI, which breaks its data out by state, shows that the national unemployment rate is projected to rise to 10.7 percent by the third quarter, up 5.9 percent since the start of the recession in the fourth quarter of 2007. In Minnesota, the rise over that period is 3.5 percent.

But men here have been hit harder than women: Since the recession started the rate of unemployment has jumped 4.7 percent, from 4.6 to 9.3 percent; among women, the jump went from 4.8 to 6.9. EPI’s projections show that 11.7 percent of men could be unemployed nationally by Q3, compared to 9.7 percent of women.

But more extreme are the disparities based on ethnicity. While EPI’s data doesn’t include Minnesota (there’s not a significant percentage of minorities here to ensure an accurate sampling, report author Kai Filion tells the Minnesota Independent), the picture nationally is grim: Minorities began the recession with higher unemployment rates than whites (8.6 versus 8.1 percent), these rates have skyrocketed ever since. Overall unemployment among blacks is expected to pass 17.2 percent for blacks and 13.9 percent for Hispanics, with some states — Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and South Carolina — expected to surpass 20 percent among African Americans by late 2010.

EPI’s Filion notes that these results include boosts brought on by stimulus support, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and they assume that extensions to unemployment insurance will continue. But more is needed.

“Although ARRA is estimated to have saved millions of jobs, it was passed at a time when very few expected the economy to get as bad as it is now,” he tells the Minnesota Independent in an email. “So now that we’re in a bigger hole, it’s going to take more work to get out –- which is why we’re advocating for more job creation efforts, and more aid to states, so that they can continue providing vital services such as health care and education.”