Job seekers attends the JobNewsUSA.com South Florida Job Fair held at the Amerant Bank Arena on June 26, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida.
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The unemployment rate for women in the white, Black and Hispanic racial groups rose in June in line with the overall trend, according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor.
In June, white, adult women saw their unemployment rate rise to 3.1% from 3.0% the month prior. The jobless rate similarly increased for Black and Hispanic women to 5.7% from 5.2% and 4.5% from 4.1%, respectively.
This trend higher was in line with the overall unemployment rate, which edged higher to 4.1% from 4.0% last month.
On the other hand, the unemployment rate fell for men in all three racial groups. The rate ticked down to 3.2% from 3.4% for white males, while falling to 4.2% from 4.7% for Hispanic men. Jobless rates also declined to 6.1% from 6.4% for Black men, although the category still has the highest unemployment rates among all the demographic groups.
“We’ve seen a lot of gains for women in this pandemic, in this recovery — a lot of notable highs that they’ve experienced. They hit historic all-time highs in terms of their employment in the labor market. But we did see some softening among women in June, and that was accompanied by this rise for men,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute.
However, Gould noted it’s curious this rise in female unemployment last month corresponded to an influx in jobs in the healthcare and social assistance sectors, which are traditionally not thought to be male-dominated.
The unemployment rate for white workers in general stayed steady at 3.5%. This number fell to 4.9% from 5% for Hispanic workers, but rose to 6.3% from 6.1% for Black Americans and 4.1% from 3.1% for Asian Americans. The jobless rates for Asian workers separated by sex were not readily available.
Last month, the labor force participation rate — the percentage of the population that is either employed or actively seeking work — ticked higher to 62.6% from 62.5% in May.
Among white workers, the rate steadied, while it fell to 62.7% from 62.9% for Black Americans. This compares to the labor force participation rate for Asian and Hispanic workers, which respectively rose to 65.9% from 65.3% and 67.5% from 67.3%.
— CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.