Labor force characteristics by race and ethnicity, 2017

"In 2017, the overall unemployment rate for the United States was 4.4 percent; however, the rate varied across race and ethnicity groups. Among the race groups, the unemployment rates were higher than the national rate for American Indians and Alaska Natives (7.8 percent), Blacks or African Americans (7.5 percent), people categorized as being of Two or More Races (6.7 percent), and Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (6.1 percent). Jobless rates were lower than the national rate for Asians (3.4 percent) and Whites (3.8 percent). The rate for people of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity, at 5.1 percent, was higher than the 4.2-percent rate for non-Hispanics.

Labor market differences among the race and ethnicity groups are associated with many factors, not all of which are measurable. These factors include variations in educational attainment across the groups; the occupations and industries in which the groups work; the geographic areas of the country in which the groups are concentrated, including whether they tend to reside in urban or rural settings; and the degree of discrimination encountered in the workplace.

This report describes the labor force characteristics and earnings patterns among the largest race and ethnicity groups living in the United States—Whites, Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics—and provides detailed data through a set of supporting tables. The report also contains a limited amount of data on American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders, people who are of Two or More Races, detailed Asian groups, and detailed Hispanic groups. Because of their relatively small sample sizes, estimates for these additional groups are not included in all tables..."
Labor force