New unemployment statistics for the Chicago metro area for April are expected to be released June 2.
If history repeats itself, then unemployment rates could go up, despite a recent dip over the last two months. Unemployment rates have been on the rise since December 2006. According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, in January, the unemployment rate reached 11.1, the highest since August 1983 when the rate was 11.2.
If the numbers continue to increase, minorities could be impacted even greater. Last year, The Chicago Reporter analyzed unemployment data and found that black people were unemployed at twice the rate of their white counterparts.
A new Reporter analysis of 2009 data shows that the gap remains the same. In 2009, the unemployment rate for white men was 9.9 and 20.2 for black men. In fact, since 1981, the first year when racial minority groups were reported separately, the lowest unemployment rate for black men was 8.9--a rate slightly lower than the worst rate for white men, which was 10.
It will be interesting to see what the new rates tell us about what we can expect in the near future. The two-month dip may not be enough to continue a downward trend for the remainder of 2010.
--Jared Hoffman
Filed under: Employment/Labor
I think the answer choices were limited. The current state of unemployment was a result of the Bush administration, and it's unreasonable to think Obama could do a significant amount in the time he's been in office. While I do think he's done quite a bit, there is definitely much more to be done, but we won't get an accurate picture of what was done until after he's out of office. Then, if a Republican is in office when the improvement is measurable, they'll get the credit for what was put in place when Obama was in office. I don't think he cares "only" about health care, so my answer would fall somewhere between "the economy is getting better" and "We won't know until his term is up."