Mixed News in August's Unemployment Rates for Women, Minorities and Workers with Disabilities

U.S. Department of Labor
OFCCP

While the overall unemployment rate has fallen from a high of 10.1 percent in October 2009 to 9.6 percent this August, not all groups have benefited equally. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the unemployment rate has improved little for black workers during the economic recovery to date. In August, the jobless rate for blacks was 16.3 percent, little changed from its post-recession high of 16.5 percent. However, Latino workers have had greater recent improvements with a decrease in their unemployment rate from a high of 13.1 percent last December to 12.0 percent in August. Even with these improvements there remains large disparities between the employment situation of Latinos and non-Latinos..

Full Story: http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/LatestNews.htm#2

'The new unemployables': Workers over 50

The New York Times
Educated, experienced, but facing record unemployment for their age group
Stuart Isett for The New York Times
Patricia Reid, 57, lost her job at Boeing four years ago and has struggled to find a new position.
By MOTOKO RICH
updated 9/20/2010 4:24:33 AM ET

VASHON ISLAND, Wash. — Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.
But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.
College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.

Full Story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39265116/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/

Unemployment unequal among races, sexes and ages

istockanalyst.com
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:13 AM
Source: Connecticut Post)By Rob Varnon, Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
Mar. 10--This story originally appeared in the Sunday, March 7 print edition of the Connecticut Post.

A young couple walked down Elizabeth Street in Derby carrying yellow bags from the food bank in this city where the unemployment rate tops 10 percent. Just across the river, people are searching for jobs on library computers in Shelton, where unemployment is 7.3 percent.
Disparities in jobless rates are not limited to geographic boundaries in Connecticut. The gaps fall across age, race and skill sets, leaving an unsettling picture of hardship unevenly spread throughout the region.
And a new trend is beginnning to emerge from the regional data, said John Toomey, head of the state Labor Department's research division. While the distribution of unemployment has largely tracked trends from the past, the size of a long-term unemployed class has expanded, he said.

Full Story: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3934812#

U.S. Labor Department to begin new monthly data series on people with disabilities from Current Population Survey on Feb. 6

U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Disability Employment Policy

ODEP News Release: [02/5/2009]Contact Name: Bennett Gamble or Gary SteinbergPhone Number: (202) 693-4667 or (202) 691-5902Release Number: 09-0133-NAT

Data will mark 1st official measure of unemployment rate facing Americans with disabilities

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor will, for the first time, release employment and unemployment data on people with disabilities on Friday, Feb. 6. This information will assist the nation in understanding how changing labor market conditions affect Americans with disabilities. Although it is widely believed that this group typically faces a higher rate of unemployment than individuals without disabilities, official estimates were not available until now.
"Now that so many Americans are suffering job losses, there is a tremendous amount of attention being paid to employment problems and solutions affecting the general population. Americans with disabilities typically experience similar employment difficulties — even when there is a robust economy. The economic downturn may just exacerbate their struggle. These data will go far toward efforts to increase the employment of people with disabilities," said John Davey, deputy assistant secretary for the department's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP).
ODEP is sponsoring the collection of these data by the department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using the Current Population Survey (CPS), which provides comprehensive information on the employment status of the civilian, non-institutional population 16 years of age and older. Six disability questions have been added to the CPS to satisfy a requirement specified in Executive Order 13078, signed by President Bill Clinton, to measure the employment status of people with disabilities on a timely basis.
Beginning Feb. 6 at about 8:30 a.m. EST, BLS and ODEP will publish on their Web sites — at www.bls.gov/cps/cpsdisability.htm and www.dol.gov/odep, respectively — data on individuals with disabilities. The disability data to be released on this date will cover October 2008 through January 2009. Thereafter, the data will be updated monthly.
ODEP is leading a 21st century federal response to the historic underemployment of people with disabilities. In collaboration with other government agencies, public and private employers, and additional stakeholders, ODEP facilitates the development and implementation of innovative policies and practices necessary to achieve a fully inclusive workplace. ODEP's work primarily falls into three categories: employers and the workplace; workforce systems; and employment-related supports, which include education and training, health care, reliable transportation, affordable housing and assistive technology.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/odep/ODEP20090133.htm