Strong U.S. Job Growth Leads to Lowest Black Unemployment in Years

Two job related news stories bring good news for Democrats and President Obama: The overall unemployment rate continues to drop; and the stubbornly high unemployment rate of black Americans has significantly improved.

On cue, the GOP and Mitt Romney will respond by claiming the growth is very weak and that Obama's policies and big government regulations are hindering a more robust economic recovery.

Two things: President Obama inherited a free falling economy that was losing over 800,000 jobs a month before he even walked into the Oval Office. His first mission was to stabilize the patient, hence avoiding a Great Depression.

Secondly, to add insult to the GOP created injury, the Republicans in congress, for over three years, have not lifted one finger to help bring the American people relief. No, they have - due to partisan politics - obstructed and refused to partner with Obama on anything for the good of the country. Obama's number one priority was to help the country recover; the GOP's number one priority was to defeat and frustrate the president. For example:


The Republicans announced that no matter what Obama did, they would oppose it. Jobs bill? No. Deficit solution? No. Nothing matters to them but defeating Barack Obama. source

Read the following two job report articles.

President Barack Obama hasn’t unfurled a “Mission Accomplished” banner just yet.

But Friday’s jobs report showing the unemployment rate dropping to 8.3 percent, the lowest level of his presidency, is an unexpected boon for Obama’s reelection bid and a serious hurdle for his top competitor, Mitt Romney, who has staked his campaign on a jobs-and-economy message.

While 8 percent-plus unemployment is still a perilous number for any incumbent, the clear downward trend in the jobless rate complicates the Republican narrative that Obama is an out-and-out economic failure who has no hope of turning around the economy.

The lower that number goes, strategists in both parties say, the harder it will be for Romney and others to rely on a glum national mood and a purely jobs-focused sales pitch to turn voters against the incumbent.

“Those numbers are good news for the country and they are good news, politically, for the president,” said Steve Schmidt, who ran John McCain’s 2008 campaign. “It puts particular pressure on Mitt Romney as the nominee to offer a big, bold, sweeping agenda of reform and economic growth and contrasts with the president’s vision. He’s simply not going to be able to run a campaign built on a foundation of criticism.”

It’s not just the political world where eyes widened in response to the economic news. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, said: “It’s certainly good news for Obama.” read more

And news on black unemployment:

Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS )reported Friday.

The number of unemployed persons declined to 12.8 million in January. Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.7 percent) and blacks (13.6 percent) declined in January. The unemployment rates for adult women (7.7 percent), teenagers (23.2 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Latinos (10.5 percent) were little changed.

Black unemployment saw the biggest drop — from 15.8 to 13.6 percent. And for the first time in a long time, those numbers aren’t being fudged (much) by people who have dropped out of the workforce. Unemployment overall is at 8.3 percent now, and the BLS says that workforce participation is holding steady.

“These numbers are important because one, we now have the lowest unemployment rate in nearly three years. It’s also one of the biggest drops in black unemployment—nearly two points—that the BLS has recorded in years,” said Shani O. Hilton, Colorlines.com’s D.C. Correspondent. read more