[ad_1]
People walk through downtown Manhattan in New York City on December 2, 2022.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The labor market showed a bigger deterioration for Hispanic workers, whose unemployment rate rose more than the U.S., according to data released Friday by the Department of Labor.
The overall unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 3.9% last month, the highest level since January 2022, while it was expected to remain stable at 3.8%. Among Hispanic Americans, the unemployment rate rose 0.2% to 4.8%.
Black Americans, the group with the highest unemployment rate in America, saw their unemployment rate rise 0.1% last month to 5.8%. The record low for Black unemployment is 5.4% in October 2019.
“When averages are moving downward, there is often greater movement at the bottom of the wage distribution,” Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, told CNBC. “Low-wage workers, less-skilled workers and those who face barriers to employment will be hardest hit by any labor market slowdown.”
Black and Latinx Americans were hit particularly hard by the business closures in the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the unemployment rate for Black workers peaking at 16.8% in 2020 and the unemployment rate among Latin Americans rising to 18 .8%. The overall unemployment rate peaked at 14.7% in April 2020.
Asian Americans, while having the lowest unemployment rate among several demographic groups, saw the largest percentage increase in unemployment. Interest rates rose by 0.3% to 3.1% in October.
The Federal Reserve, which has a dual mandate that includes full employment, has deliberately tried to slow the economy to address inflation. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said earlier this week that slower growth and a softer labor market are “probably” still needed to tame price pressures.
The labor force participation rate among Latin American workers fell to 66.9% last month from 67.3% in September. Overall, labor force participation fell slightly to 62.7%, while the labor force shrank by 201,000 people.
Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:
