For 47 consecutive years, the unemployment rate of Black or African Americans has been the highest among the three major racial and ethnic groups in the United States.

The trend began in March 1973 when data were collected. It ran successively till May 2020 when the unemployment rate of Hispanic/Latino population ranked first for the first time. During that month, the jobless rate of the Hispanic population reached 17.6%, higher than the 16.80% of the blacks.

In January 1983, about 21.2% Black or African Americans were jobless, marking a historic high for the group in half a century. In August 2019, the unemployment rate for Black or African Americans reached a historic low of 5.0%. However, the unemployment rates were lower in that month for Whites and Hispanics, which stood at 3.4% and 4.2% respectively.

In both times of recession and prosperity, White Americans boasted the lowest unemployment rate. The highest jobless rate for White Americans was 9.6%, recorded for December 1982. The lowest jobless rate for the group was 3.1%, registered for April 2019, January 2020, and February 2020.

For the Hispanic or Latino population, the highest jobless rate was 15.7%, recorded for December 1982. The lowest jobless rate for the group was 3.9%, recorded for September 2019.

Metadata: Black Unemployment Rate

Source: Macrotrends

Note: Statistics for Asian unemployment are not included here as the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not start including this measure until 2000 and does not provide a seasonally adjusted series as yet.