Job seekers attend the JobNewsUSA.com South Florida Job Fair on June 26, 2024 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida.
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Data released Friday showed unemployment rates rose among white, black and Hispanic women in June, in line with the overall trend by the Department of Labor.
The unemployment rate among white adult women rose to 3.1% in June from 3.0% the previous month. The unemployment rates for black and Hispanic women also rose from 5.2% to 5.7% and from 4.1% to 4.5%, respectively.
This trend is consistent with the overall unemployment rate, rose slightly to 4.1% Last month it was 4.0%.
On the other hand, male unemployment fell across all three racial groups. The share for white men fell from 3.4% to 3.2%, and for Hispanic men it fell from 4.7% to 4.2%. The unemployment rate for black men also fell from 6.4% to 6.1%, although this category still has the highest unemployment rate of any demographic group.
“We’ve seen women achieve a lot in this pandemic, in this recovery – they’ve experienced a lot of noteworthy highs. They’ve had record-high employment rates in the labor market. But we’ve done it economically. Elise Gould, senior economist at the Institute for Policy Studies, said the number of women slowed in June while the number of men increased.
Gould noted, however, that it was curious that last month’s rise in female unemployment corresponded with an influx of jobs in health care and social assistance, areas not traditionally considered male-dominated.
The overall unemployment rate for white workers held steady at 3.5%. The number for Hispanic workers fell from 5% to 4.9%, but the number for African Americans rose from 6.1% to 6.3% and for Asian Americans from 3.1% to 4.1%. Unemployment rates for Asian workers by gender are unclear.
Last month, the labor force participation rate (the percentage of the population that is employed or actively looking for work) rose to 62.6% from 62.5% in May.
Among white workers, the share leveled off, while among black Americans it fell from 62.9% to 62.7%. In comparison, the labor force participation rates for Asian and Hispanic workers rose from 65.3% to 65.9% and from 67.3% to 67.5%, respectively.
—CNBC’s Gabriel Cortes contributed to this report.
