The key statistic inside the July jobs report no one is talking about

On Friday, the Labor Department reported that 528,000 jobs were added to the economy in July, more than double the 258,000 economists had been expecting. We also learned the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5%. This was a welcome relief for the Biden administration after the prior week’s Commerce Department report showing the economy is staring down a recession.

However, hidden inside the Labor Department’s report was some bad news for black people, whose unemployment rate rose to 6% in July from 5.8% in June. This demographic group also saw a drop in the labor participation rate. For comparison, the unemployment rate stands at 3.9% for Hispanic Americans, 3.1% for whites, and 2.6% for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.