Social and economic issues in the USAEconomic Issue 1 – Unemployment in the USA

In December 2023, the national unemployment rate in the USA was 3.7%. This is close to a historic low and considerably lower than when the US economy and jobs were badly affected by the Covid pandemic. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

There is a wide difference in unemployment rates between different ethnic groups:

Unemployment rates (%) by racial group, Dec. 2023 (seasonally adjusted)

Explaining the differences in unemployment rates between different racial groups

There are different and complex reasons which explain why black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to be unemployed. These include:

• People from poorer areas tend to have lower education levels. This is more likely to affect people from black or Hispanic backgrounds who are statistically more likely to live in poorer areas and have fewer qualifications.
• Discrimination – Studies show that job applicants with identical job applications with names which sound white are more likely to receive a callback than those which sound black or Hispanic.
• A greater percentage of people from minority groups have less access to transport and affordable allowing them to take the jobs which do become available.

How has President Biden attempted to tackle unemployment?

When the Covid pandemic hit the USA in 2020, millions of Americans lost their jobs and unemployment rose sharply reaching just over 14%. (Source: BBC News).

On taking office in Jan 2021, one of President Biden’s highest priorities was to get those Americans who had lost their jobs because of the pandemic back into work. His administration’s plan, the American Jobs Plan (AJP), looked to create more jobs through a 10-year $2 trillion investment programme of building roads, railways, and bridges, extending airports and ports, and extending high-speed internet capacity. By March 2022, thanks in part to the AJP, the US unemployment rate had more than halved to 6. ( Source: The White House)