Unemployment for high school dropouts fell to a record low of 5.1 percent in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday morning, suggesting that the recovery is increasingly benefiting some of the most economically vulnerable groups.
The 5.1 percent mark beat the previous record low set in October, with data going back to the early 1990s.
The low unemployment rates for people without much education is just one of many high-water marks set in the current jobs recovery, which is now extending toward an eighth year.
Unemployment for people with only a high school diploma is also historically low, at 4 percent.
As the overall unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest levels in nearly half a century, subgroups like African-Americans, Hispanics, and others have enjoyed record-low, or near-record-low, jobless rates.
President Trump has regularly boasted about those facts, attributing them to his agenda of tax cuts, regulatory relief, and trade renegotiations.
The news regarding high school dropouts is especially encouraging given that there are fewer people lacking higher education today than in years past. Today, there are just over 10 million such workers. There were nearly 14 million in the early 1990s.
