Even When Black Unemployment Is At Record Lows, It's Dangerously High
Even in the best economic times, black unemployment is nearly twice that of whites, and those racial disparities have calcified into a permanent, structural feature of the American economy.
On Tuesday, President Trump painted a rosy picture of the economy during his first State of the Union speech: rising wages, a boom in manufacturing jobs, jobless claims were at their lowest in nearly half a century.
But one of the biggest applause breaks during his survey of the landscape greeted this claim: "Something I'm very proud of — African-American unemployment stands at the lowest rate ever recorded." Cue hoots and hollers and a standing ovation from the members of Congress on the chamber floor.
It was an oddly
