UNEMPLOYMENT The unemployment rate for nonwhites compared with the unemployment rate for whites has remained virtually unchanged since 1954. The nonwhite unemployment rate continues to be a little more than double the white rate. (See table 7 and chart 1.) This ratio has been relatively constant throughout business cycles, although nonwhite unemployment has tended to be higher than that of whites in recession periods and to decline to a greater degree than that of whites when the economy has expanded. Unemployment rates differ not only by race but also by occupation, 99 educational attainment, age, and sex. Less-skilled occupations, which employ a large number of nonwhite workers, have had much higher rates of unemployment over the last two decades than the higher-skilled occupations, which employ more whites. Unemployment figures for the mostskilled occupations (including professional, technical, managerial, and administrative positions) have been consistently low since the late 1950's. (See table 13.) For example, in 1965 (an expansionary year), professional and technical workers had an unemployment rate of 1.5 percent; managers and administrators, 1.1 percent. During the same year, however, nonfarm laborers had an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent and operatives (engaged in mechanical or manual work) had a rate of 5.5 percent. In 1970 (a recessionary year), professional and technical workers had an unemployment rate of 2 percent, while for managers and administrators the rate was only 1.3 percent. But for non farm laborers the unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent and for operatives, to 7.1 percent. 100 Regardless of occupational level, however, black unemployment rates are much higher than white. During 1973, unemployment rates for blacks in various occupations ranged from 2.2 to 11.5 percent; for whites 99. Following unemployment rates by occupation are shown in table 13 and drawn from sources listed there. 100. Data following on unemployment are displayed in table 14 and are drawn from sources cited there. Note: The unemployment rate is the percentage of the civilian labor force that is unemployed. Source: U.S., Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Social and Economic Status of the Black Population in the United States, Current Population Reports, series P-23, no. 48 (1974), table 28. Sources: U.S., Council of Economic Advisors, Economic Report to the President (1974), table 6; U.S., Department of Labor, of the President 1973, table 1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Handbook of Labor Statistics 1972, table 66; and U.S., Department of Labor, Manpower Report 49 the range was from 1.4 to 8.1 percent. Among white-collar workers in 1973, 6.7 percent of black workers, but only 2.7 percent of white workers, were unemployed. For the same year, 8 percent of black workers in blue-collar jobs were unemployed, compared with 5 percent of white workers in this category. The highest unemployment rate for black workers in 1973 was in the sales field, where the rate reached 11.5 percent, more than three times the 3.4 percent unemployment rate for white salesworkers. Unemployment rates of men and women in 1973 show that unemployment rates for women are higher at all occupational levels. (See table 14.) In general, black women have the highest unemployment rate in each occupational category, with black men having the next highest rate, white women having a rate lower than either black men or black women, and white men having the lowest rate. In 1973, the unemployment rate for black men ranged from 2 to 10.2 percent in different occupational categories; for white men the range was 1.1 to 8.1 percent. For black women, the unemployment rate ranged from 2.5 to 14.3 percent; for white women, the range was from 2.5 to 8.6 percent. Black males had a total unemployment rate of 7.9 percent, compared to 3.7 percent for white males. The total unemployment rate for black women was 11.1 percent, more than double the 5.3 percent rate of white women. (See table 15 and chart 2.) 101 Unemployment rates decrease with years of educational attainment. In 1972, for instance, persons 18 and over with less than 12 years of school had an unemployment rate of 7.3 percent; for those with 12 years of school the rate was 5.5 percent; those with more than 12, 3.7 percent. Yet at each level of educational attainment there is a disparity between the unemployment rates of whites and nonwhites. For example, nonwhites in 1972 with less than 12 years of school had an unemployment 101. Data following on education and unemployment are displayed in table 15 and drawn from the sources cited there. |