{"id":287097,"date":"2026-05-21T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/?p=287097"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:04:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:04:25","slug":"black-men-face-a-worsening-jobs-market-may-2026-race-jobs-and-economy-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/black-men-face-a-worsening-jobs-market-may-2026-race-jobs-and-economy-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Men Face a Worsening Jobs Market: May 2026 Race, Jobs and Economy Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the economy roils from the shockwaves of the tariff\/trade war of last year and the ongoing and intensifying <\/span>energy shock<\/span><\/a> from the Iran war, the unemployment rate remains low at 4.3%. 100,000 jobs were added in April, which was the first consecutive month of positive growth since April of 2025.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the positives in the April <\/span>jobs report<\/span> released by the<\/span> Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> (<\/span>BLS<\/span>)<\/span>, closer scrutiny of the data reveals ongoing weaknesses in the labor market. An examination of the employment situation facing Black men helps elucidate these negative trends, including their <\/span>falling labor force participation rates<\/span><\/a>, sluggish job growth and rising long-term unemployment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>BLS defines<\/span><\/a> a worker as unemployed if they have actively looked for a job within the previous four weeks. A more expansive definition of unemployment includes part-time workers who seek but can’t find full-time work and those who want a job but have not actively looked for work because they believe no quality positions exist. The BLS also tracks this expanded definition of unemployment, formerly called the U-6 rate or underemployment rate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The chart below shows the underemployment rate by race and sex from 2022 to the present:<\/span><\/p>\n